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!^i  ig:^!  wh!  im 


TWO  HARD  CASES 


SKETCHES  FROM  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PORTFOLIO 


W.  W.  GODDING,  M.  D. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


BOSTON 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

New  York  :   11  East  Seventeenth  Street 

(Clbe  nitiersjtjc  ^ves^,  Camljri&ge 

1882 


i3043fi 


Copyright,  1S82, 
By  W.  W.  godding. 


All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge  : 
Stereotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  0.  Houghton  &  Co. 


GSl 


PREFACE. 


Psychological  problems  are  not  considered 
popular  reading,  and  a  treatise  on  mental  disorders 
is  hardly  to  be  recommended  as  a  knapsack  com- 
panion for  the  mountain  and  the  sea-side  ;  but  the 
curious  questions  that  history  has  left  unanswered 
are  always  fascinating  to  a  certain  class  of  minds,  to 
none  more  so  than  to  the  idle  dreamers  who  seek  re- 
fuge from  ennui  at  the  summer  resorts.  Ah,  "  Pa- 
triaB  quis  exul,  se  quoque  fugit  ? "  We  all  know 
what  Sir  Thomas  Browne  says  about  the  song  the 
sirens  sang ;  and  to  the  oft-repeated  queries,  Who 
wore  the  iron  mask  ?  What  and  where  was  the 
lost  Atlantis  ?  How  many  children  had  John 
llogers  ?  is  now  added  the  later  but  hardly  less 
l)uzzling  one.  Was  Guiteau  insane? 

I  have  decided  to  publish  this  little  volume,  not 
because  I  think  that  there  is  any  general  demand 
for  such  a  work,  but  for  the  reason  that  I  observed. 


iv  PREFACE. 

during  the  examination  of  the  medical  expert  wit- 
nesses at  the  late  trial,  that  one  must  be  very  far 
down  in  the  scale  not  to  have  at  least  written  a 
book,  or  have  been  elected  an  honorary  member  of 
some  foreign  society.  Here  at  the  Capitol,  when 
a  man  misses  his  opportunity  to  speak,  he  is  gen- 
erally granted  leave  to  print,  his  auditors  being 
only  too  thankful  to  have  escaped  the  infliction  by 
so  harmless  a  concession.  It  is  perhaps  too  soon, 
before  the  fate  of  the  edition  is  determined,  though 
probably  safe  enough,  to  congratulate  the  jDublic  on 
their  escape  in  this  instance.  Those  readers  who 
habitually  skip  the  Preface  have  thus  far  suffered 
no  harm.  W.  W.  G. 


TWO   HAED   OASES. 


C.   R.   W. 

A    FRAGMENTARY    MEMOIR. 

[Read  before  the  New  England  Psychological  Society,  in  1877.] 

C.  R.  W ,  aged  seventeen,  a  native  of  Lowell, 

Mass.,  and  student  at  the  High  School  in  that  place, 
was  indicted  in  June,  1872,  for  an  assault,  with  in- 
tent to  kill,  on  the  person  of  C.  E.  K ,  the 

weapon  being  a  pistol.  He  was  trie(t  and  acquitted 
on  the  ground  of  insanity,  and  sent  to  the  Lunatic 
Hospital  at  Taunton,  Mass.  I  have  no  nainutes  of 
the  trial,  nor  was  I  present,  though  I  have  under- 
stood that  it  was  shown  that  he  had  been  one  of  the 
best  scholars  in  the  school,  but  had,  during  the  year 
or  two  preceding  the  assault,  become  moody  and 
reserved,  neglecting  his  studies,  and  giving  evidence 
of  a  weakened  mind,  the  result,  it  was  claimed,  of 
secret  vice.  The  immediate  cause  of  the  shooting 
appeared  to  be  jealousy.     I  here  introduce  part  of 

a  letter  that  I  received  from  C.  E.  K ,  in  May, 

1875,  as  it  gives  his  statement  of  the  case,  and  is 


6  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

the  only  direct  testimony  that  has  come  into  my 
hands.     He  says  :  "  About  four  years  ago  the  past 

winter,  C.  R.  W attended   the  Lowell  High 

School,  and  was  in  the  same  class  with  the  young 
lady  to  whom  I  am  now  married.  He  seemed  sad 
and  quiet,  and  like  one  without  any  friends,  but 
was  an  excellent  scholar  at  school,  and  often  asked 

Miss for  assistance,  being  in  the  same  class, 

which  she  granted.  He  wanted  to  call  on  her  some 
evening  and  receive  help  in  his  Greek  lessons,  in 
which  he  seemed  very  much  interested.  I  was 
waiting  upon  her  at  the  time,  and  she  asked  me 
if  I  had  any  objections.  I  told  her  I  had  not. 
He  called  several  times,  and  seemed  to  take  hold 
and  study  hard ;  but  one  night,  on  leaving  the 
house,  he  shamefully  insulted  her,  and  from  that 
time  she  had  nothing  more  to  say  to  him.  He  was 
often  seen  after  that  prowling  around  the  house, 
and  whenever  we  attended  meeting  or  an  entertain- 
ment of  any  kind  together  he  was  sure  to  be  there, 
and  to  follow  us  home,  but  we  never  paid  any  at- 
tention to  him  whatever.  Sunday  evening,  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1872,  Miss  and  I  attended  meeting 

at  one  of  the  churches  here,  and  while  there  saw 

W sitting  in  the  gallery,  but   thought  nothing 

of  it.     I   went  from   church  with  my  lady  to  her 

home,  and,  as  I  was  leaving  there,  W sprung 

from  behind    a  laige  board   fence  and  fired  two 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  7 

shots  at  me,  both  taking  effect,  and  one  of  them  I 
carry  now.  Before  this  occurrence  he  had  several 
times  stolen  money  from  his  sick  father  and  run 
away  from  home,  and  the  police  hunted  him  up 
and  returned  him.  His  father  died  late  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1871,  and  after  that  he  did  as  he  pleased. 
I  have  since  learned  that  he  always  had  a  very 
ugly  disposition,  and  that  his  parents  had  no  control 
over  him,  but  I  know  nothing  of  his  life  previous 
to  this  event  except  what  I  have  heard.  Every  one 
here  that  was  acquainted  with  his  father  says  that 
he  was  an  excellent  man,  and  they  do  not  see  what 
should  make  the  boy  so  bad,  except  that  his  own 
mother,  who  died  when  he  was  quite  small,  had  not 
a  very  pleasant  disposition,  and  was  hard  to  get 
along  with  at  times." 

My  acquaintance  with  the  case  dates  from  his 
commitment  to  the  hospital,  July  29,  1872.  Ex- 
cept a  certain  cat-like  expression,  his  appearance 
was  rather  prepossessing ;  his  face  was  smooth  as 
a  boy's,  his  smile  pleasant,  his  eye  hazel  and  wholly 
impenetrable.  It  was  one  of  the  hardest  eyes  to 
read  that  I  ever  saw.  To  the  last  it  was  a  riddle 
to  me,  —  hence  this  memoir. 

Mere  boy  that  he  was,  I  decided  to  place  him  in 
a  pleasant  room  and  let  him  have  his  school-books 
about  him  ;  the  hope  of  his  case  was  to  gain  his 
confidence  and  give  him  every  chance  for  recovery. 


8  Tiro  HARD   CASES. 

He  seemed  very  grateful  for  the  favor  shown  him, 
gave  no  trouble,  read  and  studied,  went  quietly  to 
walk  with  his  attendant ;  then,  later,  went  out  with 
the  other  members  of  his  ward  with  two  attendants, 
dodged  down  a  lane  under  their  very  eyes,  and 
August  11,  1872,  thirteen  days  after  admission, 
that  child-like  young  man  had  vanished.  Parties 
were  sent  in  search,  the  police  of  different  places 
notified,  watch  was  kept  in  Lowell,  but  no  trace  dis- 
covered. Some  weeks  later  I  found  that  he  had  an 
uncle  in  Wj^shington,  D.  C.  Thinking  he  might 
have  made  his  way  there,  the  chief  of  police  was 

notified,  and  with  the  best  description  of  W 

that  we  could  give,  he  had  special  search  made  for 
him,  but  without  result.  Up  to  the  time  of  his 
elopement  he  had  manifested  no  insanity  here,  and 
the  friends  of  young  K were  naturally  indig- 
nant that  W had,  by  the  specious  plea  of  in- 
sanity, so  easily  avoided  the  state  prison  and  so 
soon  escaped  from  all  confinement  whatever. 

The  situation  was  an  unpleasant  one  to  me,  and 
I  was  debating  what  further  steps  to  take,  when, 
on  the  3d  of  October,  1872,  I  received  from   H. 

B.   M ,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  the  following 

letter :  — 

Washington  City,  D.  C,  September  30,  1872. 

Sir,  —  Some  three  weeks  ago  C.  R.  W ,  a 

son   of  my  half-brother,  T.  H.  W (now  de- 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  9 

ceased),  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  arrived  at  my  office  in 
this  city,  having  escaped  from  your  asylum,  where 
he  had  been  sent  by  the  court,  held  at  East  Cam- 
bridge, after  being  acquitted  by  the  jury  of  the 
charge  against  him,  on  the  ground  of  insanity.  I 
have  deferred  notifying  you  of  his  whereabouts, 
hoping  that  by  the  medical  treatment  already  re- 
ceived while  in  your  asylum  he  might  have  been 
sufficiently  benefited  so  as  to  render  his  return  un- 
necessary. But  he  has  displayed  since  here  the 
same  characteristics  and  unusual  tricks  which  he 
did  before  his  attempt  to  take  the  life  of  young 

K . 

I  have  become  impressed  with  the  idea  that  it  is 
my  duty,  and  to  his  interest  and  to  the  interest  of 
the  community,  to  notify  you  that  he  is  here,  and 
that  I  will  render  any  assistance  within  my  power 
to  have  him  returned.  I  knew  nothing  of  his  es- 
cape until  he  called  upon  me  in  my  office  in  this 
city.  He  tells  me  that  he  walked  from  Taunton  to 
Lowell,  where  he  found  friends,  who  gave  him 
money  to  come  out  here  with.  I  believe  that,  if 
the  boy  could  be  kept  under  your  treatment,  he 
would  be  cured  in  a  year  or  two  ;  but  he  will,  in  a 
very  short  time,  go  to  ruin  if  permitted  to  run 
around  as  now.  I  do  not  know  what  steps  it  will 
be  necessary  for  you  to  take  to  have  him  returned, 
but  if  you   can  procure  a  requisition  for  him  and 


10  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

send  it  to  me,  I  will  place  it  in  the  hands  of  the 
proper  authorities  here,  and  have  him  returned ;  or 
I  will  assist  you  in  any  other  manner  that  I  can. 
Hoping  to  hear  from  you  at  your  earliest  conven- 
ience, I  remain, 

Very  respectfully,  H.  B.  M . 

Here  was  the  best  evidence  of  his  insanity  that 
I  had  3^et  received ;  a  man  who  had  evidently  in- 
tended to  conceal  him,  —  and  whose  office,  where 

W had  worked  all  the  time,  was  actually  the 

next  door  to  that  of  the  chief  of  police,  who  had 
been  making  search,  —  he  was  his  uncle,  and  he 
would  naturally  try  to  screen  him,  had  worked  for 
him  at  the  time  of  the  trial,  and  yet,  at  the  end  of 
three  weeks,  his  actions  had  caused  apprehension 
of  violence,  and  brought  the  uncle  to  a  late  sense  of 
his  "  duty  "  in  the  matter. 

I  sent  a  telegram  at  once  to  notify  Major  Rich- 
ards, the  chief  of  police,  and  have  W arrested. 

In  a  day  or  two  I  received  this  letter :  — 

Washington,  D.  C,  October  3,  1872. 
Sir,  —  I  have  just  received  your  telegram,  and 
have  complied  with  your  request  so  far  as  seeing 

Major  Richards  is  concerned,  and  W will  be 

returned  as  soon  as  your  requisition  is  received. 
My  object  in   writing  now  is  to  let  you  know  the 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  11 

reasons  why  I  wrote  to  you  as  I  did  :  first,  it  was 
my  duty  ;  and,  secondly,  I  had  discovered  that  he 
relieved  nature  upon  the  floor  of  his  room,  and  then 
threw  it  out  of  the  window,  and  many  other  things 
unnecessary  to  mention,  and  immediately  upon  dis- 
covering these  things  I  talked  with  him  in  regard 
to  his  conduct.  He  did  not  appear  to  appreciate 
the  fact  of  having  done  anything  wrong,  but  he  ab- 
sented himself  from  the  table,  and  commenced 
sneaking  around  the  house  and  appearing  morose 
and  surly,  which  acts  alarmed  the  members  of  my 
family,  and  I  felt  that  he  must  most  certainly  be 
either  insane,  or  terribly  depraved  morally,  either 
of  which  being  true  he  certainly  needed  treatment. 
I  would  greatly  prefer  that  he  should  not  know 
that  his  return  was  brought  about  by  my  efforts. 
I  hope  to  hear  from  you  after  his  return.  I  am 
anxious  to  do  all  I  can  for  him,  but  really  I  desire 
that  he  should  leave  Taunton  in  some  way  or  man- 
ner other  than  by  running  away.     I  remain. 

Very  respectfully,  H.  B.  M . 

The  attorney  general  having  given  an  opinion 
adverse  to  the  issue  of  a  requisition,  I  sent  a  special 
officer,  who  returned  W to  the  hospital  Octo- 
ber 19,  1872,  to  all  appearance  the  sam'e  quiet, 
incomprehensible  young  man  who  had  left  us  two 
n.onths    before.       He    was  placed   in   a   screened 


12  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

room  and  kept  secluded  for  a  time,  being,  how- 
ever, allowed  his  school-books,  of  which  he  had 
quite  a  library. 

I  had  no  idea  that  seclusion  would  do  him  any- 
good,  but  it  was  a  necessity  of  the  case.  He  was 
usually  quiet  and  pleasant,  but  at  times  moody  and 
despondent.  Seeing  that  he  was  growing  worse 
in  solitude,  after  a  month  or  two  I  allowed  him 
the  liberty  of  the  ward,  having  him  sleep  in  the 
screened  room  at  night.  We  found  that  he  prac- 
ticed self-abuse,  and  on  one  occasion,  after  being 
very  moody  and  silent,  he  became  violently  excited, 
so  as  to  require  the  restraint  of  a  camisole,  and 
finally  confinement  to  a  bed. 

I  watched  him  narrowly,  and  made  up  my  mind 
that  it  was  an  outburst  of  maniacal  excitement,  and 
not  a  manufactured  article.  He,  himself,  attrib- 
uted this  to  self-abuse,  and  afterwards,  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  he  begged  to  have  the  camisole 
put  on,  and  even  to  be  confined  to  the  bed.  The 
young  man  was  deep,  but  he  did  not  make  all  this. 
1  fir.d  by  reference  to  the  minutes  of  the  case, 
"  Jan'y  2,  1873, was  coaxed  by  two  other  men  who 
broke  out  to  escape,  but  did  not  consent  to  go." 
"  Feb'y  22,  concealed  a  knife  from  the  table,  and 
cut  the  window  casing  so  that  he  could  open  his 
blind."  "  P^or  this  he  was  secluded  ;  he  then  de- 
stroyed all  his  school-books  in  one  night."     This, 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  13 

I  think,  he  afterwards  felt  very  badly  about,  as 
they  had  been  his  companions  for  years.  "  March 
8,  quiet ;  on  the  ward  wearing  a  camisole."  "  March 
4,  fastened  himself  in  his  room."  "  March  20,  very 
comfortable;  now  on  the  ward  without  restraint." 
"  April  5,  still  comfortable ;  has  now  been  on  the 
upper  ward  nearly  a  week."  "  May  1,  uneasy  ; 
wants  to  go  to  the  centre  ward  "  (this  is  a  small 
ward  for  convalescent  patients),  ''  or  else  to  be  re- 
moved to.  the  lower  hall,"  —  a  ward  for  noisy  de- 
ments. "May  19,  with  another  inmate  took  out 
a  window  and  loosened  the  iron  sash,  with  a  view 
to  escaping,  but  was  discovered."  Was  kept  se- 
cluded for  a  time,  but,  finding  no  progress  towards 
a  cure  in  this  way,  I  decided  to  try  him  out  on  the 
upper  ward  again.  The  record  runs  along,  "  Quiet 
and  comfortable,"  until  August  21,  when,  in  com- 
pany with  a  convict,  he  eloped  at  night  from  the 
third-story  window.  In  the  morning  there  was  the 
usual  telegraphing  to  Lowell  and  other  cities,  scouts 
sent  out,  and  the  full  anticipation  of  another  un- 
comfortable time  with  the  Lowell  people,  when,  at 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  that  mild  young  man 
walked  quietly  into  the  general  office,  and  seated 
himself  to  await  my  coming.  The  explanation  that 
he  gave  of  the  matter  was  that  the  first  he  knew 
he  found  himself,  towards  evening,  sitting  under  a 
tree,  at  a  long  distance  from  the  hospital,  to  which 


14  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

he  returned  as  rapidly  as  possible.  As  the  man 
who  escaped  with  him  had  no  such  call  back  to 
the  hospital,  I  was  never  able  to  get  any  collateral 
testimony  regarding  his  appearance  during  the  day 
he  was  out. 

As  the  question  of  larvated  epilepsy  will  suggest 
itself  to  the  medical  reader,  I  should  say  that  no 
trace  of  an  epileptic  attack,  other  than  such  parox- 
ysms as  have  already  been  given,  were  ever  ob- 
served. His  explanation  may  seem  unsatisfactory, 
but  why  appear  happy  to  get  back,  and,  having 
got  fairly  away,  why  did  he  come  back  at  all  ?  It 
was  evident  that  that  self-possessed  young  man 
was  either  deeper  or  crazier  than  we  had  hitherto 
known.  He  w^as  returned  to  the  upper  ward,  but 
detained  in  his  room,  a  screened  one.  He  made 
no  objection  to  this,  but  ten  days  later  (Septem- 
ber 2)  he  was  depressed,  and  a  few  days  after  this 
a  paroxysm  of  excitement  came  on,  in  which  he 
tore  all  his  clothing  to  shreds.  Was  placed  in  a 
camisole,  confined  to  the  bed,  and  a  few  hours  later 
he  was  very  calm  and  sorry  for  w^hat  had  occurred. 

For  two  months  following  this  he  seemed  quite 
comfortable  ;  amused  himself  with  copying  off 
verses  in  a  book,  which  he  did  very  neatly,  or- 
namenting the  borders  with  little  sprigs  and  flow- 
ers in  jDen-drawing.  He  was  certainly  doing  bet- 
ter, when,  December  22,  he  assisted  Mears,  a  late 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  15 

arrival,  who  was  uneasy  at  his  detention,  in  remov- 
ing an  iron  sash  in  the  third  story,  and  then  let  him 
down  into  an  airing  court.  The  high  fence  of  the 
latter  proving  an  insurmountable   obstacle  to  the 

eloper,  W kindly  went  down  the  rope,  helped 

the  man  over  the  fence,  followed  him  out  in  the 
same  way,  and  then  reported  himself  to  the  gen- 
eral office.  There  was  no  claim  of  unconsciousness 
this  time,  but  all  was  done  in  the  spirit  of  the  gol- 
den rule,  to  do  to  his  neighbor  as  he  would  be 
done  by.  It  resulted  in  his  being  shut  up  by  way 
of  example,  although  he  appeared  to  have  made 
up  his  mind  never  to  run  away  again. 

January,  1874,  found  him  in  his  room,  reading 
and  writing.  At  times  there  would  be  slight  de- 
pression, but  the  boy  was  doing  better,  had  hopes 
of  gaining  my  confidence  and  getting  well.  How 
far  he  succeeded  in  this  is  shown  by  the  record  of 
March  7,  when,  during  the  night,  he  removed  the 
sash  from  the  window  of  his  room,  in  the  third 
story,  and  vanished  out  of  our  sight,  leaving  this 
letter  of  regrets  and  apology  :  — 

Dr.  W.  W.  Godding  : 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  have  wished  to  stay  here  until  I  re- 
ceived an  honorable  discharge.  And  I  have  hoped 
that  you  would  not  allow  "an  outside  pressure,"  as 
you  term  it,  to  cause  you  to  treat  me  less  kindly 


16  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

than  you  otherwise  would,  especially  since  you  be- 
lieve in  my  innocence,  and  know  such  a  feeling 
against  me  to  be  cruelly  unjust.  But  having  been 
disappointed,  I  feel  driven  to  take  the  stej)  I  am 
about  to.  I  have  patiently  borne  calumny,  wrong, 
and  insult,  conscious  of  my  innocence  from  all 
crime  and  wrong,  —  believing  that  the  God  of 
truth  would  at  last  exonerate  me  from  blame. 
And  my  good  name  has  been  vindicated  before  the 
law,  even  at  the  hands  of  strangers.  I  have  pa- 
tiently and  uncomplainingly  borne  my  confinement 
here,  since  I  began  to  get  well,  being  cheered  by 
kind  promises  of  my  enjoying  this  spring  the  few 
privileges  which  others  on  the  hall  possess. 

But,  having  been  informed  that  I  may  expect  no 
immediate  amelioration  of  my  present  strict  con- 
finement, I  feel  a  deep  conviction  that,  in  con- 
tinuing in  my  hopeless,  disagreeable  confinement 
merely  and  solely  to  gratify  an  unjust  malignity, 
I  am  not  doing  justice  to  myself.  If  those  who 
have  acted  as  enemies  to  me  express  to  you  any 
fears  at  my  being  at  liberty,  I  trust  that,  if  only  in 
justice  to  them,  you  will  assure  them  how  ground- 
less are  their  fears,  and  how  far  above  anything 
so    bad    my    character    is.       You    know    that    for 

C.  K I    entertain    feelings    of   the    sincerest 

sorrow  at  the  part  I  unconsciously  had  in  the 
sad  event  by  which  we  both  were  so  unfortunately 


,   TWO  HARD    CASES.  17 

afflicted.  I  know  that  you  will  think  this  act  is  a 
mistake  on  my  part ;  but  do  not,  T  beg  you,  think 
I  acted  dishonorably,  for  I  want  to  do  what  is  right, 
and  I  have  wished  to  stay  and  get  discharged. 

I  hate  to  leave  in  such  a  manner,  but  I  feel  a 
sense  of  duty  prompting  rae  to,  for  I  cannot  bear 
this  dreary,  hopeless  confinement  longer.  Doctor, 
you  have  been  very  kind  to  me  at  times,  and  it 
is  hard  for  me  to  cause  you  disappointment  and 
trouble.  Forgive  me,  for  I  am  sincerely  sorry  to 
be  compelled  to  act  thus.  It  seemed  hard  that  you 
should  refuse  to  grant  the  promises  which  have 
so  long  helped  me  to  bear  my  confinement  pa- 
tiently ;  but  I  believe  you  have  meant  to  do  right 
by  me,  and  I  bear  you  no  blame.  I  shall  always 
remember  you  with  gratitude  for  your  past  kind- 
ness. 

In  very  great  haste,  yours  respectfully, 

C.  R.  W. 

Telegrams  to  Lowell  again,  rewards  offered  in 
the  papers,  and  detectives  scouring  the  region,  and 
my  mind  firmly  made  up  that  if  I  caught  him  again, 
he  should  spend  his  life  in  an  iron-clad  room, 
rather  than  that  we  should  have  all  this  worry  and 
anxiety  to  go  through  every  few  weeks. 

The  search  proved  fruitless,  and  I  was  debating 
a  scheme  of  wider  advertising,  when,  on  the  18th  of 
2 


18  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

March,  I  received  the  following  letter,  in  the  hand- 
writing with  which  I  had  i^rown  familiar  :  — 

Stonixgton,  Conn.,  March,  1874. 
Dr.  ^Y.  W.  GoDDiNCx : 

Dear  Sir,  —  If  you  will  send  a  person  here  Fri- 
day I  will  meet  him  at  the  depot  and  go  back  with 
him.  It  is  inexpressibly  humiliating  and  mortify- 
insf  for  me  to  write  this,  and  nothing;  but  an  entire 
failure  to  obtain  even  the  most  menial  employment 
would  cause  me  to  do  it.  It  was  at  a  sacrifice  of 
much  personal  feeling,  and  very  repugnant  to  my 
taste,  for  me  to  leave  the  hospital  in  the  manner  I 
did,  but  in  doing  it  I  still  feel  that  I  did  my  duty. 
For  I  felt,  as  any  young  man  who  has  any  am- 
bition whatever  would  feel,  that,  in  continuing  in 
worse  than  unprofitable  confinement,  as  a  state 
pauper,  year  after  year,  when  1  was  able  to  work 
for  myself,  and  when  you  yourself  pronounced  me 
well  enough  to  be  discharged,  I  would  be  doing 
neither  what  was  right  nor  best.  Yet  you  had 
been  very  kind  to  me,  and  indeed  almost  the  only 
friend  I  had  in  the  world,  and  it  was  painful  for  me 
to  cause  you  disappointment  and  trouble.  And  so, 
for  your  sake  more  than  my  own,  I  resisted  all 
temptation  to  go  in  August  and  December,  and 
stayed,  hoping  that  something  might  occur  to  en- 
able  me  to  get  an   honorable  discharge.     And  I 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  19 

talked  with  you  long  and  often  about  the  matter, 
but  you  said  tliere  was  a  strong  outside  feeling 
against  my  being  discharged,  and  that  without  out- 
side assistance  you  could  do  but  little.  And  per- 
ceiving that  my  getting  discharged  would  be  an  im- 
possibility for  a  long  time  to  come,  I  felt  impelled 
to  do  as  I  did. 

Having  obtained  my  liberty  at  such  a  cost  of 
personal  feeling  and  of  trouble  to  others,  I  have 
struggled  hard  to  keep  it.  Being  utterly  destitute 
of  all  means  of  support,  and  liaving  no  friend  in  the 
world  to  go  to,  I  have  been  obliged  to  endure  much 
privation  and  hardship.  But  1  have  searched  con- 
stantly for  a  fortnight  for  employment,  and  have 
found  that  there  are  hundieds  of  others  in  the  same 
condition,  and  that  where  there  is  any  opportunity, 
experienced  and  known  })ersons  have  the  prefer- 
ence. And  I  have  been  told  again  and  again  that 
it  is  hopeless  for  me  to  get  work.  I  liave  found 
kindness  and  sympathy  wherever  I  have  been,  but 
I  cannot  brook  the  thought  of  living  thus  upon 
charity  ;  therefore  I  write  you  this.  I  have  tried  to 
act  for  the  best,  but  my  life  seems  cursed,  and  I 
am  driven  back  to  confinement  worse  than  ever, 
and  in  which  I  can  expect  no  sympathy  or  mercy, 
and  only  unrelenting  severity.  I  have  always  been 
taught  to  believe  that  there  is  a  Being  who  does  all 
things  for  the  best,  but  when  I   think  of  my  sad 


20  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

life  —  how  little  pleasure  I  have  known,  and  how 
much  of  sorrow  —  my  mind  is  full  of  doubt. 

The  past  fortnight  has  shown  me  that  without 
some  friend's  assistance  I  can  do  nothing  in  life,, 
so  I  submit  to  my  fate,  and  place  myself  at  your 
mercy,  regretting  sincerely  the  useless  trouble  I 
have  caused  you.  I  will  be  at  the  depot  Friday, 
when  the  afternoon  train  comes  in. 

Respectfully,  C.  R.  W. 

The  messenger,  arriving  at  Stonington  Friday 
afternoon,  found  our  young  hero  on  the  platform, 
awaiting  his  coming. 

Afterwards,  in  writing  to  the  party  with  whom 
he  had  been  stopping  at  Stonington,  I  found  that 
it  was  not  true  that  he  could  not  get  work,  as  the 
man  had  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  poor  boy,  who 
appeared  so  well,  but  had  no  friends,  and  had  se- 
cured hi*n  a  good  home  with  a  farmer  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, where  he  was  to  go  the  very  day  he  disap- 
peared from  Stonington,  —  another  of  the  contra- 
dictions of  a  crazy  life.  The  good  man  who  had  be- 
friended him,  surprised  at  his  absence,  made  some 
search  in  his  chamber,  and  found  pie-plates  and  egg- 
shells, which  showed  that  the  reserve  that  had  led 

W to  spend  so   much  of  his  time  by  himself 

had  not  been  wholly  unproductive.  In  justice  to 
the  subject  of  this  memoir,  I  should  sny  that  when 


TIVO  HARD    CASES.  21 

I  spoke  to  him  about  this  he  disclaimed  any  knowl- 
edge of  the  matter,  but  thought  these  might  be 
traces  of  the  boy  who  had  lived  there  during  the 
winter.       As    I    had    long    ago    ceased    to    regard 

W 's  stories  as  infallible,  1  did  not  pursue  the 

matter  further. 

On  his  arrival  from  Connecticut,  I  shut  W up 

in  a  screened  room,  and  considered  what  to  do  next. 
Our  new  building,  where  I  flattered  myself  I  should 
have  better  safeguards  against  elopement  than  the 
trifling  hindrances  that  the  old  wards  presented,  was 
still  some  months  from  completion,  and  when  done 
I  was  not  over  sanguine  that  it  would  keep  hitn. 

It  was  idle  to  go  on  in  the  old  way.  Telegrams 
to  Lowell  had  lost  their  novelty,  and  ''  him  to  safely 
keep  "  by  the  close  method  in  my  hands,  at  least, 
had  proved  a  failure. 

Moreover,  it  was  hardly  the  best  curative  treat- 
ment of  the  insane  to  shut  up  in  a  small  screened 
room,  for  an  indefinite  term  of  years,  a  boy  of 
eighteen,  and  especially  did  it  seem  to  be  hard  for 
one  who  had  voluntarily  given  himself  up  from 
elopement  days  after  all  trace  of  his  w^hereabouts 
had  been  lost. 

I  took  a  week  for  deliberation,  and  decided  that 
the  strongest  grating  I  could  place  before  him  was 
a  parole.  Accordingly,  on  4th  of  May,  1874,  I 
placed  bim  in    the  convalescent   ward,  where    the 


22  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

doors  are  always  open  by  clay,  and,  taking  his  word 
of  honor  not  to  leave  the  ground  without  permis- 
sion, I  let  him  run.  He  was  very  happy  in  this, 
and  so  was  I,  being  a  believer  in  an  innate  man- 
hood and  in  the  efficac}'-  of  paroles. 

He  came  and  went  with  the  same  impenetrable 
eye,  the  same  quiet  demeanor,  that  had  always  char- 
acterized him.  I  felt  that  I  was  as  far  as  ever 
from  really  knowing  him.  At  times  I  allowed  him 
to  visit  the  public  library,  to  go  for  berries,  to 
row  upon  the  river ;  and  one  fhiy  I  found  him 
launching  out  in  a  dry-goods  box,  which  he  had 
caulked  until  lie  considered  it  seaworthy.  Being  a 
good  swimmer,  there  was  little  fear  of  his  drown- 
ing, but  the  affair  was  so  {)eculiar  that  I  called  him 
to  the  shore  and  spoke  with  him.  I  found  he  was 
in  the  old  moody,  depressed  mental  condition.  I 
advised  him  to  stay  in  until  he  was  better,  and  in 
a  short  time  he  seemed  all  right  again.  Early  in 
July  he  had  so  far  won  over  his  attendant  that  he 

intrusted  to  W ,  when  going  to  exchange  his 

library  book,  a  little  money  for  lemons  and  sugar, 
and  also  trusted  him  to  register  a  letter  containing 
twenty  dollars.  He  returned  with  a  good  supply 
of  lemons  and  sugar,  having  used  the  money  with 
which  he  was  to  register  the  letter  to  swell  the 
lemonade  stock,  mailing  (?)  the  letter  in  the  or- 
dinary way.     It  is  needless  to  say  that  that  lettei 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  23 

never  reached  its  destination.  I  did  not  regret 
very  much  that  the  attendant  had  lost  it,  hoping  he 
might  thereby  learn  something,  but  I  was  sorry  to 
feel  that  W had  taken  it.  In  a  private  conver- 
sation that  I  had  with  him  on  the  subject,  hoping  to 
find  where  he  had  hid  it,  he  denied,  positively,  hav- 
ing taken  it,  felt  humiliated  that  the  attendant,  of 
whom  he  was  so  fond,  should  suspect  him  ;  but  he 
admitted  that,  being  told  to  register  the  letter  and 
not  having  done  it,  he  was  responsible  for  the  loss 
of  the  money.  He  should  be  glad  to  make  up  the 
loss  if  he  had  any  means.  I  then  told  him  that  I 
would  allow  him  to  demonstrate  the  sincerity  of 
his  professions,  give  him  a  more  extended  parole, 
so  that  he  might  go  for  berries  wherever  they 
w^ere  thickest,  and  would  pay  him  whatever  price 
I  was  paying  others,  in  order  that  he  might  make 
good  the  loss.  It  was  a  confidence  that  seemed 
at  first  to  pierce  the  impenetrable  moral  mail  that 
he  wore,  but  he  did  not  own  to  having  taken  the 
money.  It  was  wonderful  how^  that  boy  worked. 
He  pretty  much  finished  one  suit  of  clothes  in  the 
pursuit,  and  earned  about  fifteen  dollars,  that  he 
paid  over  to  the  attendant.  He  gathered,  too, 
masses  of  wild  flowers,  which  he  arranged  very 
prettily,  and  brought  to  ray  wife.  He  was  so 
happy  in  it,  seemed  so  much  better,  that  I  never 
took   up  the  extended  parole,  though  he  was  not 


24  TIVO  HARD    CASES. 

wholly  free  from  traces  of  the  old  depression  at 
times.  About  this  time  the  mayor  and  aldermen 
of  Lowell  visited  the  hospital  to  inspect  their  in- 
mates, and  expressed  their  surprise  and  pleasure  at 
the  visible  improvement  in  W ,  and  at  the  ab- 
sence of  reports,  of  late,  of  his  elopement. 

He  never  bore  crossing  with  anything  like 
Christian  resiojnation.  On  the  oOth  of  Auijust  a 
little  picnic  started  out  from  the  hospital,  in  which 
he  had  been  very  much  interested,  and  for  which  he 
had  made  most  of  the  arrangements.  At  the  very 
last  moment  something  was  said  or  done  that  dis- 
pleased him,  and  he  was  moody  and  would  not  go ; 
but  after  dinner  he  went  out,  and  did  not  return 
until  late  in  the  evening  :  where  he  went  I  never 
knew.  During  the  autumn  I  found  that  he  was 
habitually  absenting  himself  from  the  chapel  ser- 
vices on  Sunday,  and  having  spoken  to  him  about 
the  matter,  he  made  little  reply,  but  soon  after  left 
for  me  a  characteristic  note,  which  I  here  insert, 
as  showing  something  of  the  state  of  his  mind  from 
a  religious  stand-point :  — 

Dr.  W.  W.  Godding  : 

JJear  Sir,  —  I  have  been  much  perplexed  by 
your  wish  that  I  should  attend  chapel  on  Sundays. 
I  have  never  made  a  custom  of  doing  so,  and  for 
a  much  greater  reason   than  you  have  imagined. 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  25 

My  mind  has  always  been  slow  to  accept  the  relig- 
ion taught  by  Christ.  I  know  of  no  better  expres- 
sion of  my  views  than  that  the  tendency  of  my 
mind  has  always  been  toward  the  philosophy  of 
John  Stuart  Mill.  I  of  course  have  no  prejudice 
against  a  religion  that,  above  all  others  yet  intro- 
duced, has  satisfied  the  emotional  nature  of  man. 
But  to  listen  to  its  exposition  is  as  tiresome  as  it 
would  be  for  you  to  be  obliged  to  listen  to  the 
mummeries  of  the  Romish  church. 

So  irksome  is  it  that  I  have  hitherto  chosen  to 
be  shut  up  in  my  room  rather  than  attend.  And 
if  you  will  permit  I  will  continue  to  refrain  from 
attending-  I  dislike  much  to  seem  odd  in  beius^ 
an  exception  to  the  rule  of  attending  chapel,  espe- 
cially as  your  wishes  would  have  it  otherwise.  But 
1  cannot  help  believing  as  I  do.  If,  for  any  rea- 
son, you  still  think  I  had  better  attend,  I  will  try 
to  repress  my  aversion,  and  remain. 

Very  respectfully,  C.  R.  W . 

Though  I  feared  that  this  at  best  would  prove 
but  stony  ground  for  the  sowing  of  our  good  chap- 
lains, I  concluded  that  the  philosophy  of  John 
Stuart  Mill  would  hardly  save  him,  at  least  that 
it  should  not  save  him  from  attending  chapel,  and  I 
accordingly  required  him  to  be  present. 

The  case  went  on  with  little   change.     During 


26  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

the  winter  he  skated  a  good  deal,  being  very  fond 
of  the  sport,  and  on  one  occasion  skated  into  the 
open  river,  but  rescued  himself.  At  another  time 
he  extended  his  parole  as  far  as  Fall  River,  on  the 
ice,  returning  in  season  for  supper.     As  the  spring 

drew  near,  I  think  W seemed  better  than  I 

had  ever  known  him,  though  very  anxious  that  I 
.  should  move  for  his  discharge. 

He  had  demonstrated  his  ability  to  refrain  from 
running  away,  and  tlie  prospect  seemed  to  brighten. 
To  keep  up  his  hopes  I  talked  with  him  at  some 
length  in  regard  to  the  importance  of  being  en- 
tirely well;  of  the  difficulty  of  getting  the  court 
to  order  the  discharge  without  there  was  abundant 
evidence  of  this  ;  of  my  own  hope  that  the  time 
was  drawing  near  when  we  would  feel  safe  about 
it ;  that,  indeed,  I  could  promise  that  the  coming 
summer  should  not  go  by,  if  he  remained  as  well, 
without  ray  taking  steps  to  bring  his  case  before  the 
proper  tribunal. 

This  seemed  to  please  him  very  much,  yet  when 
Jie  da}^  of  the  centennial  of  the  battle  at  Concord 

came  W was  missing  at  dinner-time.     Was  it 

possible  his  parole  had  been  extended  to  take  iu 
that  celebration  ?  He  knew  better  ;  had  no  busi- 
ness to  do  it.  But,  worse  still,  night  came,  with 
no  return.  The  parole,  elastic,  and  stretching  over 
nearly  a  year,  was  broken.      Then  came  the  old 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  27 

story  of  telegrams  to  Lowell  and  elsewhere,  and 
the  anxious  searching  for  traces.  The  20th  and 
21st  of  April  passed,  with  no  tidings.  It  was  clearly 
an  elopement. 

On  the  evening  of  the  22d  I  received  the  follow- 
ing telegram  :  — 

ToROKTO,  Oktakio,  Ajrril  2%  1875. 

Please  telegraph  how  I  can  return.    C.  R.  W. 

Was  it  a  ruse  to  obtain  money?  Was  it  another 
way  of  saying,  How  do  you  propose  to  get  me  out 
of  the  Queen's  dominions?  Or  was  it  the  old  con- 
trition that  came  in  the  reaction  from  excitement  ? 
I  was  inclined  to  think  the  latter,  but  I  answered, 
"  Report  yourself  to  the  United  States  Consul." 
The  next  day  came  this  telegram  :  "  W is  en- 
tirely destitute.  What  can  you  do  ?  "  signed,  United 
States  Consul.  I  replied,  Send  him  with  an  offi- 
cer, at  our  expense,  —  at  the  same  time  WTiting 
the  consul  at  length  by  mail.  Awaiting  response, 
the  mail  brought  me  this  letter  in  pencil :  — 

Kingston,  C.  W.,  J^;?-//21,  1875. 
Wednesday  evening.  [He  had  originally  written 
Toronto  and  erased  it ;  and  morning,  also  erased.] 
It  is  nine  o'clock  as  I  sit  down  in  the  depot  to  write 
you  these  lines.  T  am  waiting  for  the  next  train  to 
Toronto,  Can.     [He  had  written  Niagara,  N.  Y.,  in- 


28  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

8tead  of  Toronto,  Can.,  and  erased  it],  which  leaves 
here  at  eleven.  I  will  get  there  in  the  morning^ 
and  will  immediately  telegraph  to  you. 

I  find  myself  here  with  barely  enough  money  to 
last  me  a  day  or  two,  when  I  shall  have  reached 
Toronto  [ngain  Toronto  is  written  over  Niagara, 
erased],  at  the  end  of  which  time  I  hope  some  one 
will  arrive  from  Taunton.  Where  this  money  came 
from,  how  I  came  here,  I  know  not.     The  thought 

rushes  through  my  mind  that  it  is  the  money  B 

lost  la§t  July.  Yet  I  cannot  believe  that,  for  I  re- 
member carrying  his  money  to  the  office  as  distinctly 
as  anything  in  my  life.  I  make  all  haste  to  relieve 
you  from  the  anxious  suspense  my  absence  must 
have  caused  you.  You  must  have  thought  that  I 
had  broke  my  promise  to  you.  This  would  be 
painful  enough  to  me,  but  1  almost  lose  sight  of  it 
in  the  anguish  of  an  infinitely  more  terrible  grief. 
Scarcely  more  than  a  week  ago  we  were  speaking 
of  my  going  home,  and  everything  looked  so  bright 
and  hopeful.  To-day  I  begin  my  journey  to  the 
hospital,  which  I  know  must  be  as  a  living  tomb  to 
me,  —  from  which  I  never  can  and  never  ought  to 
go  forth,  bearing  such  a  curse  as  1  do ;  and  with 
the  bitterest  realization  that  even  that  which  makes 
the  darkest  life  brighter,  hope,  has  passed  from  mine 
forever. 

Oh,  you  have  known  in  part  what  a  great  ambi- 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  29 

tion  has  been  mine,  and  how  passionately  I  have 
clung  to  the  hope  that,  after  all  I  had  suffered, 
there  was  yet  happiness  before  me ;  and  oh,  you 
can  conceive,  better  than  any  words  of  mine  can  ex- 
press, what  a  flood  of  terror  and  woe  fills  my  hearr, 
till,  cold  and  faint,  it  cries  out  for  its  only  refuge, 
death !  Oh,  I  can't  think  why  my  life  should  be  so 
cursed  ! 

You  have  been  kind  and  good  to  me,  and  have 
pitied  me.  God  thank  you  for  it,  for  I  shall  never 
be  able  to  show  my  gratitude.  The  remainder  of 
my  life  is  at  your  disposal.  If  there  should  be 
times  when  I  shall  appear  well,  do  not  trust  me,  for 
I  cannot  trust  myself.  This  may  seem  superfluous. 
But  I  may  some  time  seem  plausible^as  I  have  for 
a  year  past,  but  let  not  any  entreaties  of  mine  move 
you.  I  speak  this  not  merely  for  your  sake,  but  for 
my  own  sake,  for  I  never  want  to  know  again  so 
bitter  an  hour  as  now. 

I  have  no  heart  to  write  farther,  and  the  train  is 
at  hand.     Yours,  etc.,  C.  R.  W . 

The  morning  of  the  24th  I  received  this  tele- 
gram : — 

Toronto,  Ontahio,  April  24. 

W is  perfectly  right.     Now  would  it  not  be 

safe  to  purchase  ticket  and  send  him  on  Monday  ? 
He  is  anxious  to  go. 

(Signed)  Col.  Shaw,  U.  S.  Consul. 


30  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

In  the  light  of  the  letter  just  read  and  my  past 
experience,  I  answered,  "  Yes."  April  26th,  I  re- 
ceived a  telegram  from  the  consul  that  "  W 

left  on  three  fifteen  train  this  p.  m."  I  may  men- 
tion here,  as   it  goes  to  show  the  duplex  character 

of  W 's  mind,  not  to  say  duplicity,  that  a  month 

or  tw^o  later  we  learned  from  Mr.  Peter  C.  Jones, 

of  Boston,  that  he  met  young  W in  Toronto  at 

this  time,  who  told  him  who  he  was :  that  he  had 
lately  been  discharged  ironi  the  hospital  at  Taun- 
ton ;  ti]at  he  had  come  away  up  there,  and  was  out 
of  means.  He  was  impressed  with  his  appearance 
as  a  very  gentlemanly  little  fellow,  sympathized 
with  him,  and  gave  him  some  money. 

The  eveniuji^  of  the  27th  of  April,  having  driven 
into  town  for  the  mail,  as  I  drew  up  at  the  post- 
office,  the  hospital  supervisor,  who,  with  an  attend- 
ant, had  taken  some  discharged  patients  to  the  rail- 
way station,  drove  up  to  me,  and  said,  "  We  have  got 

W ."     It  seems  that  they,  not  knowing  that  I 

was  expecting  his  arrival,  had  pounced  upon  him, 
getting  out  of  the  train.  The  poor  fellow  evidently 
felt  that  he  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Phil' 
istines,  his  countenance  brightening  when  he  saw 
me,  and  begged  to  be  allowed  to  walk  up  to  the 
hospital.  I  never  saw  so  much  giatitude  in  his 
face  as  when  I  told  the  supervisor  to  let  him  get 
out;  I    would    be    responsible  for    him.     He    had 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  31 

come  voluntarily  too  far  to  need  to  dog  his  last 
footsteps. 

Driving  in,  I  passed  him  within  half  a  mile  of 
the  hospital  door,  and  invited  him  to  ride  with  me, 
an  invitation  which  he  declined  wiih  a  smile.  A 
few  minutes  later,  as  I  sat  in  the  office,  he  walked 
in,  as  I  had  more  than  once  seen  him  do  before,  with 
the  same  quiet  self-possession,  the  same  impenetra- 
ble hazel  eye,  that  even  then  was  looking  beyond 
my  horizon.  I  chatted  with  him  a  few  moments, 
inquiring  of  his  journey,  and  expressing  my  grati- 
fication at  his  voluntary  return.  He  told  me  that, 
when  he  came  to  himself,  he  found  he  was  riding  in 
the  cars,  and  on  inquiring  was  told  he  was  in  Can- 
ada. I  had  outlined  in  my  mind  a  little  plan  to 
beguile  the  coming  time  with  drawing  books  and 
material,  and  the  suggestion  that  out  of  his  conjfine- 
ment  he  might  fit  himself  for  an  artist  life.  But  I 
did  not  broach  it  then,  simply  saying  that  what  I 
had  planned  for  him  now  we  would  talk  over  to- 
morrow. I  assigned  him  a  room  in  a  pleasant  ward 
of  the  new  building,  at  which  I  thought  I  perceived 
the  least  dropping  of  his  countenance,  and  took  his 
hand,  bidding  him  "  good-evening." 

To-morrow  never  came  to  him.  Early  the  next 
morning  I  was  called  to  see  him  suspended  by  a 
leathern  thong  from  the  wire  transom  over  his 
door.     It  was  a  skate  strap,  that  he  had  concealed 


32  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

when  his  clothing  was  removed.  lie  had  been 
dead  for  hours. 

This  little  note,  written  in  pencil  and  addressed 
to  me,  lay  on  the  bureau,  where  he  had  placed 
it  just  prior  to  making  a  "  leap  in  the  dark  "  :  "  As 
I  have  fulfilled  my  duty  to  you,  I  take  the  step  I 
intended  at  the  first  of  my  journey.  I  think  even 
you  will  appreciate  the  motive  that  prompts  me. 
I  wish  my  remains  to  lie  with  those  of  my  par- 
ents. Nihil  extenuate,  nil  scribe  quidquam  en 
male."  (Make  no  apology,  nor  write  anything 
in  malice.) 

Thus  in  night  and  darkness  that  life  had  gone 
out  utterly.  If  I  held  liim  responsible,  I  confess  I 
have  not  in  my  heart  to  blame  him,  for  what  was 
there  left  to  live  for  ?  I  have  endeavored,  in  sub- 
mitting this  memoir  as  a  commentary  on  paroles, 
"  to  extenuate  nothing,  nor  set  down  aught  in  mal- 
ice." Looking  back  through  a  record  of  frequent 
trials,  and  a  constant  anxiety  that  worried  and  aged 
me  more  than  any  other  case  in  my  experience,  the 
one  bright  spot  in  all  that  record  is  the  long  soli- 
tary journey  from  Toronto;  —  coming  back  five 
hundred  miles  to  die,  not  forgetting  his  promise  to 
me.  Our  hero,  from  any  stand-point,  was  full  of 
flaws.  Was  it  disease?  Name  it  moral  insanity, 
say  it  was  depravity,  call  it  what  you  will,  the  pict- 
ure is  all  in  shadow.    He  had  no  faith  in  Christ. 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  33 

I  doubt  if  he  looked  for  any  existence  beyond  this 
sad  one  ;  yet,  materialist  that  he  was,  to  a  certain 
extent  he  believed  in  such  au  abstraction  as  man- 
hood. He  held  his  plighted  word  more  precious 
than  life  ;  he  had  not  survived  his  honor. 
3 


TRIAL   OF   GUITEAU. 

OUTLINES    FOR    A    PSYCHOLOGICAL    STUDY. 

The  life  and  the  character  of  Charles  J.  Guiteau, 
together  with  the  desolating  results  of  his  crime,  be- 
long to  our  age,  and,  dim-eyed  in  the  shadow  of  a 
great  sorrow,  we  are  called  upon  to  look  for  his 
motives,  and  to  pass  judgment  on  his  act ;  the  calm 
discussion  of  the  forces  that  impelled  him  in  so 
strange  a  direction  will  come  in  after-time.  To 
that  inevitable  review  in  the  future  it  is  our  cfuty  to 
contribute  all  the  facts  in  our  possession,  together 
with  our  opinions,  for  what  they  are  worth,  to  the 
end  and  in  the  hope  that  posterity,  whether  revers- 
ing or  affirming  our  verdict,  may  be  able  to  do  what 
we  have  not,  —  to  answer  satisfactorily  the  ques- 
tion, Why  did  he  kill  President  Garfield  ? 

For  intruding  upon  the  public  with  these  brief 
outlines  for  a  study  of  this  most  remarkable  case  I 
have  no  apology  to  offer.  The  public  is  under  no 
obligation  to  rend  them  ;  doing  so,  they  have  a  right 
to  ask  what  have  been  my  opportunities  for  obser- 
vation. By  the  courtesy  of  the  officers  of  the  gov- 
ernment I  was  granted  permission  to  visit  Guiteau 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  35 

in  the  jail  late  in  September,  early  in  October,  and 
again  during  the  progress  of  the  trial.  As  an  ex- 
pert on  insanity,  I  was  detained  in  the  court-room 
througli  the  greater  part  of  the  proceedings.  I  am 
also  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  John  W. 
Guiteau  for  the  privilege  of  examining  a  number  of 
letters  written  by  the  father  of  Guiteau  and  others, 
with  liberty  to  make  use  of  the  same,  —  letters 
which,  though  not  introduced  as  evidence  at  the 
trial,  throw  some  light  upon  the  earlier  i)ortions  of 
Guiteau's  career.  If  I  add  to  this  that  these  eight 
weeks  spent  in  court  were  the  longest  vacation 
from  the  daily  cares  of  a  hospital  for  the  insane,  if 
such  they  can  be  called,  which  I  have  enjoyed  in  a 
period  of  more  than  eighteen  years,  1  have  stated  all 
that  is  essential  of  my  qualifications  for  the  work. 
1  have  taken  scenes  from  the  court-room  as  the  basis 
of  this  outline,  because  at  the  trial,  very  properly, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  the  relations  and  circumstances 
of  his  whole  life  were  reviewed ;  and  by  following 
the  notes  of  this,  while,  like  the  old  Greek  tragedy, 
we  preserve  the  unities  of  time  and  place,  we  may 
at  the  same  moment  bring  into  the  held  of  vision 
whatever  in  the  past  or  present  may  be  found  to 
have  a  bearing  upon  the  question  of  the  man  and 
his  crime. 

Two   pistol   shots   fired   in    Washington    on  the 
second   day    of   July,    1881,   startled    the    world. 


86  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

Their  victim  was  the  first  citizen  of  the  Repub- 
lic. Not  quite  four  months  had  passed  since  he 
was  welcomed  to  the  presidential  chair  with  the 
acclaim  of  a  whole  nation,  the  splendid  pageant  of 
his  inauguration  being  without  a  parallel  since  the 
organization  of  the  United  States  government.  It 
was  no  mere  party  triumph  ;  the  years  of  the  elec- 
toral commission  were  ended.  Here  was  a  Presi- 
dent by  the  people  and  for  the  people  ;  a  self-made 
man,  cradled  in  their  poverty,  but  standing  in  his 
manhood  as  the  exponent  of  their  power  and  their 
glory  ;  a  man  of  brain.  An  earnest  believer  in  the 
"  eternally  right,"  he  had  stepped  beyond  the  rank 
of  party  to  that  of  President.  The  North  had 
elected,  the  South  knew  and  trusted,  him.  The 
long-delayed  era  of  good  feeling  came  back  ;  it 
seemed  as  if  the  golden  age  of  the  Republic  was 
beginning  to  dawn.  It  is  true  that  on  the  glory 
of  that  dawning  the  clouds  of  a  selfish  political 
ambition  were  already  darkening.  It  is  not  to  be 
denied  or  overlooked  that'' the  "  spoils  system,"  old 
as  Agamemnon,  had  created  a  serious  discord  in  the 
dominant  party  ;  that  '*  the  chiefs,  having  contended, 
stood  apart."  Upon  the  merits  of  the  New  York 
contest  I  do  not  now  purpose  to  enter,  but  the  fact 
remains,  and  that  quarrel  will  go  down  in  history 
as  the  exciting,  though  altogether  insufficient,  cause 
of  the  assassin's  parricidal  act.     It  was  the  quarrel 


TWO   HARD    CASES.  37 

of  the  barons  with  their  king ;  but  the  people,  in  an 
age  when  the  third  estate  is  omnipotent,  were  on 
the  side  of  the  king  ;  their  faith  and  their  allegiance 
went  where  it  was  due ;  he  was  their  President,  and 
they  never  doubted  him.  A  politicians'  turmoil, 
—  how  like  the  veriest  mist  of  the  morning  it  all 
vanished  in  a  moment  when  the  overwhelming  sor- 
row came  !  Here  was  a  man  whose  nature  was  con- 
ciliatory, —  who  made  no  personal  enemies.  Well 
might  that  aged  mother  ask,  "  How  could  any- 
body hurt  my  boy  ? "  And  when  the  news  was 
flashed  round  the  world,  instinctively  we  said,  "  He 
must  be  insane."  In  open  daylight,  in  a  public 
railway  station,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of 
friends,  who  but  an  insane  man  could  have  done  it  ? 
And  stern  men  sobbed  out.  As  God  lives,  he  shall 
not  die  !  We  said,  God  is  good  ;  he  will  live.  And 
of  all  the  millions  of  Christendom,  only  one  man 
was  found  to  say,  He  must  die,  for  God  wills  it,  — 
the  man  who  afterwards  said,  when  on  his  trial, 
"  God  and  one  man  are  a  majority." 

Then  came  the  long  weeks  of  anxious  waiting, 
of  alternate  hope  and  despair,  a  silent  nation  hold- 
ing its  breath  to  listen  for  the  latest  bulletin,  — 
there  is  nothing  like  it  in  history.  The  pent-up 
feelinors  of  the  civilized  world  were  stilled,  waitinoj 
for  the  event.  I  said  then,  If  the  President  dies,  no" 
plea  of  insanity  can  save  this  man  from  the  gallows  ; 


13643G 


38  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

if  the  President  lives,  no  commission  of  lunacy  will 
fail  to  find  liim  insane,  and  he  will  end  his  days  in 
an  asylum,  for  the  tidal  wave  of  ])ublic  opinion  in 
this  case  will  be  irresistible.  I  have  seen  no  rea- 
son to  change  that  statement  since. 

The  arraignment  of  Guiteau  was  on  the  14th  of 
October,  1881.  Great  care  was  taken  that  it  should 
not  be  generally  known  on  what  day  this  would  oc- 
cur. It  was  by  tlie  merest  chance  that  I  was  pres- 
ent. Having  occasion  to  see  the  district  attorney  on 
business,  I  called  at  his  office,  and  was  told  that  he 
was  engaged  in  the  criminal  court.  Stepping  into 
the  court-room,  I  found  it  nearly  filled  w^ith  a 
crowd  that  was  constantly  increasing.  There  was 
a  residue  left  behind  from  the  audience  of  the  Star 
lloute  cases,  which  had  just  been  called,  the  usual 
assemblage  of  colored  and  white  court-room  loun- 
gers, and  a  few  women  ;  but  the  majority  were  per- 
sons who  had  come  at  a  moment's  warning,  true 
minute-men,  —  boys  off  the  street,  persons  who  had 
stopped  in,  passing  by,  workmen  from  the  new 
court-building,  in  their  aprons  and  overalls,  —  some 
on  tiptoe,  all  straining  their  necks  for  a  glimpse  of 
a  short,  slight  man,  with  cropped  hair  and  liead 
drooped  to  one  side,  who  stood  listening  to  the 
clerk  of  the  court,  as  he  read  on  for  nearly  half  an 
hour  the  indictment  of  Charles  J.  Guiteau  for  the 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  39 

murder  of  James  A.  Garfield.  This  indictment 
was  in  such  terse  sentences  as  the  following: 
"  And  that  the  said  Charles  J.  Guiteau,  a  certain 
pistol,  of  the  value  of  five  dollars,  then  and  there 
charged  with  gunpowder  and  one  leaden  bullet, 
which  said  pistol,  by  the  said  Charles  J.  Guiteau, 
in  his  right  hand  then  and  there  had  and  held,  then 
and  there  feloniousl}^,  willfully,  and  of  his  malice 
aforethought,  did  discharge  and  shoot  off,  to,  against, 
and  upon  the  said  James  A.  Garfield,"  etc.,  —  this 
through  eleven  repetitions.  I  have  no  doubt  that, 
from  the  legal  stand-point,  it  was  a  carefully  drawn, 
satisfactorily  worded,  paper,  a  gem  in  its  way, — 
though  I  question  if  any  lawyer  would  have  called 
it  concise  ;  but,  to  my  mind,  untutored  in  mediaeval 
lore,  it  seemed  the  mere  verbiage  that  learned  igno- 
rance mistook  for  perspicuity  in  the  dark  ages,  and 
has  since  endeavored  to  dignify  and  perpetuate  un- 
der the  name  of  legal  form,  out  of  place  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  here  in  America,  where  the  judge 
has  laid  aside  his  ermine  and  his  wio-.  The  louir 
reading  ended  with  the  question,  "  What  say  you  to 
this  indictment, — guilty  or  not  guil'ty?"  There 
was  delay  in  the  answer,  an  attempt  by  the  prisoner 
to  read  from  a  paper  something  he  had  prepared 
beforehand,  which  was  objected-  to,  and  a  plea  of 
"  Not  guilty  "  entered ;  the  judge  saying  to  the  re- 
quest to  make   a   statement  that  it   should  be  at 


40  TWO  HARD   CASJES. 

some  other  time.  Then  the  district  attorney  rose, 
and  asked  that  the  trial  be  set  for  the  next  Monday 
morning  peremptorily.  This  was  Saturday  after- 
noon. If  the  case  was  to  proceed  on  Monday,  it 
meant  a  short  shrift  for  the  prisoner  ;  but  could 
the  government  afford  to  refuse  him  time  for  de- 
fense ? 

Bellingham  was  hung,  for  the  murder  of  Lord 
Percival,  within  seven  days  of  the  shooting,  —  an 
eternal  disgrace  to  English  jurisprudence,  and  an 
unceasing  regret  ever  since,  if  not  for  the  hanging, 
at  least  for  the  unseemly  haste.  I  knew  that  Gui- 
teau  relied  on  the  postponement  of  his  trial  until 
the  American  people  had  recovered  from  the  shock 
of  the  shooting ;  had  had  time  to  read  his  statement 
in  the  "  New  York  Herald,"  and  to  make  themselves 
heard  in  his  behalf.  He  had  told  me  in  confidence 
at  the  jail  that  he  believed  Colonel  Corkhill  was  a 
stalwart,  and  that,  while  it  was  his  official  duty  to 
try  him,  he  would  favor  him  all  he  could.  I  won- 
dered, even  with  all  his  mountainous  conceit,  how 
he  felt  about  it  now. 

The  government  was  ready ;  if  there  was  to  be  a 
defense,  now  was  the  time  to  act.  The  public 
knew  of  Mr.  Scoville  only  as  a  brother-in-law  of 
the  prisoner,  who,  when  apparently  no  one  else 
would,  had  consented  to  assist  in  the  defense  of 
the  most    friendless  man  in   America.     When    he 


TWO   HARD    CASES.  41 

rose  there  was  an  expectant  bush  in  tlie  court- 
room. A  man,  something  past  middle  life,  began  to 
speak.  His  countenance  was  intelligent,  but  not 
one  particularly  impressive  beyond  a  certain  pre- 
possession that  it  gixxe  you  in  favor  of  his  honesty 
He  desired  to  have  the  trial  proceed  without  de 
lay  ;  but  thus  far  he  was  alone  in  the  case,  without 
knowledge  of  criminal  law,  and  necessarily  igno- 
rant of  much  pertaining  to  the  practice  of  the  law 
and  the  usages  of  courts  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia. He  would  have  to  ask  the  indulgence  of  his 
honor  in  this,  and,  if  the  prisoner  was  to  have 
an  impartial  trial,  some  time  was  required  to  pro- 
cure the  presence  of  witnesses.  The  great  dith- 
culty  of  securing  the  attendance  of  those  who 
might  testify  in  behalf  of  the  prisoner,  which  ev- 
erybody felt  to  be  true,  was  stated,  as  well  as  tlie 
impossibility  of  getting  the  prisoner  to  aid  him,  or 
to  realize  that  there  was  any  need  of  testimony  to 
the  facts  of  his  past  life,  he  being  apparently  un- 
able to  comprehend  the  gravity  of  his  situation. 
The  poverty  of  the  prisoner  made  it  necessary,  if 
he  was  to  have  a  fair  defense,  to  take  advantage  of 
the  United  States  law,  that  allowed  the  expense  of 
witnesses,  on  both  sides,  to  be  paid  by  the  govern- 
ment. As  evidence  that  he  had  not  been  idle  in 
preparing  for  the  trial,  he  gave  a  long  list  of 
names  of   witnesses  to  be   summoned   from   New 


42  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

Hampshire  to  Chicago,  including  those  of  super- 
intendents of  hospitals  for  the  insane,  to  testify  to 
his  insanity,  and  distinguished  surgeons,  who,  if 
the  newspapers  had  correctly  reported  them,  had 
not  hesitated  to  say  that  the  malpractice  of  the 
doctors  was  resjDonsible  for  the  death  of  the  Presi- 
dent. With  no  attempt  at  oratory,  he  spoke  de- 
liberately, impressively,  and  earnestly.  When  he 
sat  down  there  was  a  feeling  that  the  honest  coun- 
try gentleman,  who  did  not  understand  criminal 
law,  knew  his  rights,  and  was  not  afraid  to  ask  for 
tliem  ;  it  was  clear  that  there  would  be  a  defense. 
and  that  it  would  not  do  to  insist  that  the  trial 
should  proceed  on  Monday  morning.  But  it  had 
all  the  time  been  certain  that,  with  Judge  Cox  on 
the  bench,  the  prisoner  would  be  protected  in  his 
rights. 

The  trial  was  postponed  for  three  weeks,  after- 
wards to  four,  and,  the  court  having  adjourned,  the 
prisoner  was  driven  rapidly  away  to  the  jail,  being 
taken  from  a  side  door  in  a  hack,  while  the  hoot- 
ing crowd  vainly  waited  his  entrance  to  the  prison 
van,  which  had  been  di-awn  up  in  front  of  the 
court-house.  The  pleading  to  the  indictment  was 
over,  and  Guiteau  safe  in  his  cell  again  ;  only  one 
man  having  been  placed  in  arrest,  who  had  endeav- 
ored to  borrow  a  pistol  with  which  to  shoot  him 
in  the  court-room,  and  he  was  partially  intoxicated 


TWO   HARD    CASES.  43 

at  the  time.  In  this  connection,  it  is  fitting  to  re- 
fer, once  for  all,  to  the  public  sentiment  in  regard 
to  Guiteau  that  prevailed  at  the  time  of  the  trial, 
not  alone  in  Washington,  but  throughout  the  coun- 
try. It  was  a  universal  feeling  of  loathing  and  in- 
dignation. A  crime  so  needless  and  so  dastardly, 
the  utter  worthlessness  of  the  slayer  in  such  vivid 
contrast  with  all  that  had  made  his  A^ctim  so  be- 
loved, —  is  it  any  wonder  that  human  nature,  with 
feelings  thus  outraged,  called  for  vengeance  rather 
than  justice  ?  As  the  newspaper  press  of  the  day 
stated  it,  "  Hang  him  first,  and  try  the  question  of 
insanity  afterwards." 

There  was  no  day  of  the  ten  weeks  of  the  trial 
wdien  the  steps  of  the  coui't-house  and  the  side- 
walks in  the  vicinity  were  not  crowded  with  a  mass 
of  people,  eager  to  see  the  greatest  criminal  of  the 
century  ;  a  crowd  that  jeered  and  hooted  at  him 
as  he  went  shrinking  from  the  court-house  to  the 
prison  van.  A  detachment  of  United  States  troops 
guarded  the  jail  to  prevent  attempts  at  lyncliing 
him  ;  the  best  citizens  feared  that  he  might  be 
taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  law.  Twice  he  was 
shot  at :  once  by  one  of  his  guards  ;  once  in  the  van, 
on  his  way  back  from  the  court-house.  Express 
packages  of  hempen  cord,  letters  and  postal  cards, 
with  all  sorts  of  caricatures  and  threats,  were  sent 
him.    Men  and  women  throughout  the  country  did 


44  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

this,  and  fiends,  in  human  shape,  inclosed  small- 
pox virus  to  Guiteau  and  Scoville,  through  the 
United  States  mails  ;  risking,  in  their  broadcast 
sowing  of  the  seeds  of  pestilence,  the  innocent 
lives  of  thousands,  only  to  demonstrate  that  they 
were  demons,  Guiteau  having  been  protected  by 
vaccination. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  this  intense  feeling 
against  Guiteau  was  confined  to  certain  classes  of 
society.  I  think  the  testimony  of  impartial  history 
will  be  that  it  was  well-nigh  universal.  The  rec- 
ord of  the  impanelment  of  the  jury  is  instructive 
in  this  regard.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-one 
men  sworn  and  examined  for  this  purpose,  only 
one  claimed  that  he  had  no  knowledge  and  had 
formed  no  opinion  of  the  case,  and  he  was  peremp- 
torily challenged  by  the  defense,  on  account  of  his 
ignorance  ;  twelve  were  disqualified  under  the  law, 
from  age,  non-residence,  or  other  like  causes,  and 
their  opitiions  were  not  asked  ;  eighteen  were  per- 
emptorily challenged.  Of  the  remaining  one  hun- 
dred and  ten,  thirty-six  said,  under  oath,  that  they 
had  "formed  an  opinion  that  would  interfere  with 
their  rendering  an  impartial  verdict ; "  twenty- 
seven  had  "  formed  a  very  decided  opinion,"  dis- 
qualifying them  ;  twenty-two  had  "  formed  a  fixed 
opinion  that  no  amount  of  evidence  could  change," 
or   language  to    that  effect;    nine   frankly  volun- 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  45 

teered  the  statement  that  "he  ought  to  be 
hanged;"  one,  that  "no  torture  was  too  great 
for  the  nian  ;  "  one,  that  "  he  ought  to  be  hanged, 
or  burned,  or  something  else,  and  he  did  not  think 
there  was  any  evidence  in  the  United  States  to  con- 
vince him  any  other  way;"  one  had  "decidedly 
made  up  his  mind  that  this  plea  of  insanity  is  all 
bosh,  and  he  did  not  think  it  could  be  changed;" 
and,  as  if  to  show  that  there  is  no  rule  without  ex- 
ceptions, one  said,  "  I  have  a  very  decided  opin- 
ion, judge  :  I  think  the  fellow  was  crazy.  I  don't 
think  there  could  be  anything  that  would  pro- 
duce a  change  "  (meaning  in  his  opinion).  Of  the 
twelve  men  sworn  as  jurors,  ten  had  formed  and 
expressed  opinions  in  the  case ;  one  said  "  his 
mind  was  made  up  except  on  the  question  of  insan- 
ity ;  "  and  one  claimed  to  be  unbiased.  To-day, 
the  impartial  trial  by  jury,  that  was  wrested  from 
the  trembling  hands  of  the  English  tyrant  by  the 
stern  barons  at  Runnymede,  stands  between  the 
humblest  citizen  and  all  wrong.  Why?  Simply 
because  it  is  impartial.  But  for  him,  it  might  have 
been  a  stray  bullet,  or  the  nearest  telegraph  pole, 
or  a  slow  fire  under  the  shadow  of  the  Capitol. 
Let  us  be  thankful  that  history  will  record  that  in 
our  indignation  we  still  kept  to  the  forms  of  law ; 
that  he  had  his  trial. 

The  written  plea  which  Guiteau  had  prepared, 
but  was  not  allowed  to  read,  is  as  follows  :  — 


46  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

"  If  the  court  please,  I  wish  to  say  I  have  been 
terribly  vilified  by  the  press,  and  it  has  made  some 
persons  bitter  and  impulsive  against  me.  On  Oc- 
tober 6  the  '  New  York  Herald  '  published  seven 
columns  from  my  Autobiography,  which  I  expect 
to  issue  soon  in  a  hook.  Aside  from  the  imperti-*' 
nent  statements  that  I  am  a  '  creature  of  the  great- 
est vanity,'  and  that  '  I  crave  notoriety,'  which  are 
absolutely  false,  and  similar  unkind  statements,  I 
am  indebted  to  the  reporter  and  '  Herald  '  for  giv- 
ing me  so  fiiir  a  hearing.  [Here  he  wrote,  after- 
wards drawing  his  pen  throught  it,  "  It  is  a  fair 
hearing,  because  they  have  published  mostly  my 
own  words,  and  have  not  twisted  my  words  against 
me.  It  is  the  first  fair  hearing  I  have  had  in  the 
case."]  1  plead  not  guilty  to  the  indictment,  and 
my  defense  is  threefold  :  — 

"  (1.)  Insanity,  in  that  it  was  God's  act,  and  not 
mine.  The  Divine  [the  word  "Divine"  is  intro- 
duced with  a  caret  in  Guiteau's  manuscript]  press- 
ure on  mc  to  remove  the  President  was  so  enor- 
mous that  it  destroyed  mj  free  agency,  and  there- 
fore I  am  not  legally  responsible  for  my  act. 

'*  (2.)  The  President  died  from  malpractice. 
About  three  weeks  after  he  was  sliot  his  physi- 
cians, after  a  careful  examination,  decided  that  he 
would  recover.  Two  months  after  this  ofiicial  an- 
nouncement he  died.     Therefore,  I  say  he  was  not 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  47 

fatally  shot.  If  he  had  been  well  treated  he  would 
have  recovered. 

"  (3.)  The  President  died  in  New  Jersey,  and 
therefore  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  this  court. 
This  malpractice  and  the  President's  death  in  New 
Jersey  are  special  providences,  and  I  am  bound  to 
avail  myself  of  them  on  my  trial,  in  justice  to  the 
Lord  and  myself.  [He  first  wrote  "For  the  Lord's 
reputation  as  well  as  my  own,"  then  drew  a  line 
through  it.] 

"  1  undertake  to  say  that  the  Lord  is  managing 
my  case  with  eminent  ability,  and  that  He  had  a 
special  object  in  allowing  the  President  to  die  in 
New  Jersey. 

"  His  management  of  this  case  is  worthy  of  Him 
as  the  Deit}^,  and  I  have  entire  confidence  in  his 
disposition  to  protect  me,  and  to  send  me  forth  to 
the  world  a  free  and  innocent  man.  '  He  uttered 
His  voice,'  says  the  Psalmist,  '  and  the  earth 
melted.' 

"  This  is  the  God  I  served  when  I  sought  to  re- 
move tlie  President,  and  He  is  bound  to  take  care  of 
me.  [Here  he  wrote  again,  and  then  erased,  "  He 
uttered  his  voice  and  the  earth  melted,"  —  He  my 
God.]  The  Lord  and  the  people  do  not  seem  to 
agree  in  this  case. 

"  The  people  consider  the  President's  removal  an 
unbearable  outrage  and  me  a  dastardly  assassin,  and 


48  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

they  prayed  the  Lord  to  spare  the  President.  For 
nearly  three  months  the  Lord  kept  the  President 
at  the  point  of  death,  and  then  allowed  him  to  de- 
part, thereby  confirming  my  act.  The  mere  fact  of 
the  President's  death  is  nothing. 

"  All  men  have  died,  and  all  men  will  die.  Gen- 
eral Burnside  died  suddenly,  about  the  time  the 
President  did.  The  President  and  General  Burn- 
side  were  both  splendid  men,  and  no  one  regrets 
their  departure  more  than  I.  The  President  died 
from  malpractice,  and  General  Burnside  from  apo- 
plexy. Both  were  special  providences,  and  the  peo- 
ple ought  to  quietly  submit  to  the  Lord  in  the  mat- 
ter. The  President  would  not  have  died,  had  the 
Lord  not  wanted  him  to  go.  I  always  think  of  the 
President's  departure  as  a  removal.  I  have  no  con- 
ception of  it  as  a  '  murder '  or  as  an  '  assassination.' 
I  had  no  feeling  of  wrong-doing  when  I  sought  to 
remove  him,  because  it  was  God's  act,  and  not 
mine,  for  the  good  of  the  American  people. 
"  I  plead  not  guilty  to  the  indictment." 
This  is  a  remarkable  document  to  have  been 
used  by  a  lawyer  to  preface  his  plea  of  not  guilty 
on  his  indictment  for  murder.  Whatever  view  we 
may  take  of  its  author,  it  is  worthy  of  a  place  in 
the  record  of  his  trial.  One  thing  is  self-evident : 
it  was  intended  as  a  manifesto  to  the  American 
people,  rather  than  a  legal  paper  for  the  judicial 


TWO   HARD    CASES.  49 

ear  alone.  It  belongs  distinctively  to  the  Guiteau 
literature.  The  "  AYashington  Post,"  which  repro- 
duced it  in  fac-simile  in  its  issue  of  October  23,  calls 
it  a  "  weird  plea."  Certainly  it  was  a  discussion  of 
the  case  from  a  stand-point  which  bears  the  same 
relation  to  ordinary  reasoning  that  the  scenery  and 
incidents  of  a  nightmare  do  to  every-day  life. 

The  eld  court-house  at  Washington  has  not  been 
without  famous  trials  in  its  day,  —  a  day  which  it  is 
to  be  hoped  is  well-nigh  over  now,  that  a  new  build- 
ing is  approaching  completion.  Certainly  the  room 
where  the  trial  was  held  is  a  villainous  box  of  a 
place,  either  draughty  or  stifling,  depending  upon 
whether  the  windows  are  open  or  closed,  and 
wholly  unworthy  to  be  the  hall  of  supreme  justice 
at  the  nation's  Capitol.  It  is  a  room  full  of  shad- 
ows. Here,  in  1836  Lawrence  was  arraigned  for 
an  attempt  to  shoot  President  Jackson  ;  here  Gen- 
eral Sickles  was  acquitted  of  the  murder  of  Philip 
Barton  Key  ;  and  here  the  eloquence  of  the  senior 
Bradley  and  the  pleading  beauty  of  a  young  girl's 
face  saved  Mary  Harris  when  on  trial  for  her  life. 
The  defense  in  all  these  cases  was  insanity.  They 
w^ere  memorable  cases,  that  drew  crowds  to  attend 
them,  but  the  crowd  bore  no  comparison  to  this 
which  every  day  packed  all  the  available  spaces,  in- 
cluding the  corridors  of  approach,  to  their  utmost 
capacity.  The  absorbing  interest  continued  una- 
4 


50  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

bated  up  to  the  last  clay  of  a  trial  of  more  than  ten 
weeks'  duration. 

The  case  was  called  on  the  14th  of  November, 
but  as  three  days  were  occupied  in  completing  the 
panel  of  the  jury  the  commencement  of  the  trial 
may  fairly  be  dated  from  the  morning  of  the  17th 
of  November,  when,  in  the  hushed  expectancy  of 
that  crowded  room,  the  district  attorney.  Colonel 
George  B.  Corkhill,  rose  to  open  the  case  for  the 
government.  He  has  been  styled  the  Napoleon  of 
the  Washington  bar  :  personally  he  bears  a  some- 
what striking  resemblance  to  the  portraits  of  the 
first  emperor.  1  think  it  no  injustice  to  others  to 
say  that  to  Colonel  Corkhill,  in  behalf  of  the  gov- 
ernment, justly  belongs  the  credit  of  the  success- 
ful management  of  this  case,  from  its  inception  to 
its  close.  I  do  not  in  this  overlook  the  important 
services  rendered  by  that  eminent  jurist,  the  asso- 
ciate counsel  from  the  District  of  Columbia,  JMr. 
Davidge,  nor  those  of  the  still  more  distinguished 
Judge  Porter,  of  New  York  ;  neither  do  I  forget  the 
valuable  aid,  both  in  counsel  and  testimony,  afforded 
by  Dr.  Gray  as  the  medico-legal  expert.  But  after 
all  this,  it  still  remains  that  the  labor  of  preparing 
the  case,  the  planning,  and  I  may  say  Napoleonic 
conduct  of  the  campaign  to  its  triumphant  conclu- 
sion, were  fairly  his  work.  It  will  not  do  to  say,  in 
depreciation  of  this,  that  anybody  could  have  ob- 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  51 

tained  the  same  verdict,  and  that  the  trial  was  only 
a  necessary  legal  formality,  with  but  one  possible 
result.  I  should  be  willing  to  concede  such  to  be 
the  fact,  though  some  might  dispute  it ;  but  this  is 
not  at  all  the  point  wdiere  the  labor  or  the  merit  of 
Colonel  Coikliill  comes  in.  First,  there  was  a  seri- 
ous question  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  coui-t :  emi- 
nent legal  minds  doubted  if  the  case  could  be  tried 
in  the  District  of  Columliia.  What  the  district  at- 
torney's private  opinion  in  the  matter  was  I  have 
no  means  of  knowing,  but  it  is  not  in  human  nature 
that  he  should  not  wish  to  appear  as  the  prosecut- 
ing olficer  in  the  case,  after  all  the  labor  and  study 
that  he  had  devoted  to  it.  This  was  a  trial  where 
the  fame  would  be  world-wide,  and  when  a  door 
stands  open  to  an  earthly  immortality  few  men 
possess  sufficient  self-abnegation  to  close  it ;  the 
glory  of  the  present  and  the  fame  of  coming  time 
make  up  an  irresistible  combination.  It  is  cer- 
tainly reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  believed  the 
court  had  power  to  try  the  case.  If  he  had  any 
doubt  about  it,  it  is  the  more  to  his  credit  as  a  law- 
yer that  he  submitted  an  argument  on  which  so 
eminent  an  authority  and  so  preeminent  a  legal 
scholar  as  his  honor  Judge  Cox  sustained  the  point 
of  jurisdiction. 

Secondly,   the    question    of   insanity.     Whether 
Guiteau,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  was  sane  or  insane, 


52  TWO  HARD  CASES. 

whether  it  was  not  possible  to  hang  him  all  the 
same  if  he  was  insane,  must  be  regarded  at  best  as 
but  secondary  considerations  in  the  proper  legal 
conduct  of  the  case  for  the  government.  Legall}^, 
the  point  is  well  made  that  the  prisoner  at  the  bar 
is  called  upon  to  plead  guilty  or  not  guilty,  and  in- 
sanity in  the  eye  of  the  law  is  by  no  means  a  sy- 
nonymous term  with  not  guilty.  I  am  satisfied 
that  Colonel  Corkhill  himself  believed  in  the  man's 
sanity  ;  but  he  knew  there  were  those  who  did  not, 
and  he  saw  the  vital  importance  of  having  the  right 
kind  of  expert  medical  testimony  to  convince  both 
court  and  jury,  not  that  the  man,  though  partially 
insane,  was  still  responsible  for  his  actions,  but  that 
he  was  in  all  respects  perfectly  sane  ;  as  one  of 
those  experts  poetically  expressed  it,  "  as  sane  a 
man  as  you  would  meet  on  a  summer's  day." 

In  this  he  was  entirely  right.  The  hanging  of  an 
insane  man,  no  matter  how  distinctly  you  may  be 
able  to  show  that  he  knew  the  difference  between 
right  and  wrong  in  the  case  in  question,  is  at  the 
best  an  awkward  business.  The  perplexing  after- 
query  will  be  forever  coming  up.  Would  he  have 
committed  the  crime  if  he  had  not  been  insane,  and, 
if  he  would  not,  had  not  disease  something  to  do 
with  the  measure  of  his  responsibility  ?  In  behalf 
of  the  government  in  this  case,  and  no  less  in  the 
interests  of  justice  in  the  future,  the  district  attor- 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  53 

ney  determined  tliat,  so  far  as  he  could  accomplish 
it,  this  trial  should  not  only  hang  Guiteau  as  a  per- 
fectly sane  man,  but  that  it  should  goiar  to  sweep 
away  all  those  metaphysical  cobwebs  of  psycholog- 
ical medicine  that  he  honestly  considered  delusions 
and  fallacies,  but  fallacies  which  had  beguiled  too 
many  doctors,  and  from  whose  influence  even 
judges  on  the  bench  had  not  always  been  exempt. 
Hereafter,  legal  responsibility  should  not  be  one 
thing,  and  medical  insanity  another  name  for  the 
same  mental  condition,  but  the  doctors  should  have 
a  chance  to  unlearn  what  observation  had  taught 
them  of  disease,  and  the  overwhelming  weight  of 
medical  authority  in  this  case  should  at  least  make 
clear  what  insanity  ought  to  be,  and  bring  the  dis- 
ease up  to  the  requirements  of  the  Jaw.  "What 
could  be  more  satisfactory  from  a  lawyer's  stand- 
i:)oint,  or  from  the  scientist's,  unless  the  truth  ?  It 
was  a  Napoleonic  conception,  and  for  the  purposes 
of  the  verdict  in  the  case  he  was  trying,  which  is  as 
far  as  a  lawyer  has  any  right  to  look,  was  success- 
ful. Esychiatry  for  the  first  tiina  J;o.Qk  its  stand 
among  the  exact  sciences. 

iLastly,  the  district  attorney  fully  realized,  what 
later  even  so  astute  a  lawyer  as  Judge  Porter  seemed 
to  have  forgotten,  that  in  this  great  state  trial,  to 
which  our  annals  afford  no  parallel,  it  was  of  tlie 
first  importance  that  the  United  States,  through  its 


54  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

prosecuting  officers,  sbould  present  to  the  minds 
of  the  jury,  to  the  workl  at  hirge,  and  to  that  yet 
larger  audience  who  shall  hereafter  from  a  passion- 
less stand-point  study  it  in  history,  the  spectacle  of 
a  perfectly  fiiir  and  impartially  conducted  trial, 
wherein  the  bereaved  government  asked  only  for 
justice,  and  not  for  vengeance. 

How  difficult  a  task  it  was,  and  yet  how  perfectly 
it  was  accomplished  in  Colonel  Corkhill's  opening 
speech !  It  would  have  been  so  easy  to  employ  in- 
vective with  thrilling  effect  ;  there  was  such  a 
temptation  to  rouse  the  passions,  that  only  waited 
on  the  word :  but  calmly,  briefly,  yet  clearly,  in 
the  hush  of  that  court-room,  he  simply  told  the 
story  of  the  crime,  familiar  to  all  who  heard  it, 
sufficient  in  its  horror,  insufficient  only  in  its  mo- 
tives ;  the  oflfense  that  "  must  needs  come  ;  "  the 
picture  of  the  silent  sleeper  by  the  lake,  wdiom  we 
could  not  waken  ;  then  the  solemn  words  of  sacred 
writ,  pronouncing  "  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the 
offense  cometh,"  —  and  it  was  over. 

It  was  so  well  spoken  that  it  drew  tears  from  t!ie 
prisoner's  sister ;  it  was  said  so  dispassionately  that 
the  prisoner  mistook  its  art,  and  commended  it. 

Mr.  Bhiine  follow^ed,  as  the  first  witness,  which 
wns  his  right.  The  Titanic  features  of  the  great 
premier  projected  on  the  page  of  history  will  form 
a  fitting  frontispiece  to  this  state  trial.     The  man 


TWO   HARD    CASES.  55 

who  stood  next  to  the  President  in  the  nation's 
counsels,  the  friend  nearest  to  him  when  he  fell, 
he  makes  requisition  for  that  blood.  The  magni- 
tude of  the  opening  was  in  keeping  with  that  of 
the  crime. 

The  evidence  of  eye-W'itnesses  to  the  shooting  and 
tlie  arrest,  together  with  that  of  the  phj^sicians  in 
attendance,  occupied  nearly  five  days,  and  wdien  it 
closed  there  was  no  question  but  the  prima  facie 
case,  in  all  its  harrowing  details,  had  been  fully- 
made  out.  The  government  rested,  and  Mr.  Scoville 
began  his  opening  for  the  defense.  He  was  alone 
in  the  case,  Mr.  Robinson,  who  had  been  assigned 
by  the  court,  having  been,  at  his  own  request,  hon- 
orably discharged  that  morning.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  merits  of  the  question  between 
counsel,  the  quarrel  was  not  calculated  to  improve 
the  situation  for  the  prisoner,  unless,  possibly,  on 
the  principle  that  sympathy  goes  out  spontaneously 
for  the  weak  and  defenseless,  and  in  that  respect 
this  man  had  thus  far  proved  an  exception  to  the 
rule.'  Mr.  Robinson  w^as  in  the  case  by  reason  of 
his  profession  ;  law  was  hereditary  with  him ;  Mr. 
Scoville  was  in  it  by  reason  of  his  wife.  Mr.  Rob- 
inson was  at  home  in  his  profession,  and  with  -the 
instincts  of  a  true  lawyer  be  determined  to  concede 
nothing ;  his  client  was  entitled  to  have  every 
point  contested.     Whatever  error  might  be  found 


56  TWO  UARD    CASES. 

in  the  proceedings,  whatever  question  of  jurisdic- 
tion might  be  brought,  whatever  doubt  might  arise 
in  regard  to  the  medical  treatment  of  the  Presi- 
dent, whatever  defect  of  reason  or  taint  of  blood 
could  be  shown  to  exist  in  the  prisoner,  he  sliould 
have  the  benefit  of  it.  Mr.  Scoville,  on  the  otlier 
hand,  knew  very  little  of  criminal  law,  but  some- 
thing of  equity.  He  had  said  that  if  he  did  not 
believe  Guiteau  insane  he  would  not  have  con- 
sented to  aid  in  his  defense.  There  seems  to  be 
no  good  reason  to  doubt  that  he  was  honest  in  this, 
not  more  than  to  doubt  that  Colonel  Corkhill  was 
honest  in  his  belief  tliat  he  was  sane.  He  said,  The 
people  are  willing  to  hear  a  fair  defense  on  that 
ground,  but  will  tolerate  no  legal  quibbles  in  this 
case ;  this  is  the  only  defense  I  will  allow ;  on  this 
I  can  honestly  stand.  So  they  parted.  The  lawyer, 
in  the  attempt  to  discharge  his  duty,  had  acted  with 
the  soundest  reason ;  but  the  brother-in-law  was 
prompted  by  instinct,  whose  impulses  are  outside  of 
reason,  and  unerringly  right. 

The  opening  for  the  defense  occupied  a  consid- 
erable part  of  three  days.  It  was  discursive  and 
too  long  ;  it  was  plain  that  Mr.  Scoville  was  not 
accustomed  to  the  work.  At  times  the  interrup- 
tions by  the  prisoner  were  embarrassing,  but  the 
effect  of  the  whole  on  the  jury  and  audience  was 
good.     It  was  necessary  to  convince  them  that  the 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  57 

defense  of  insanity  was  an  honest  one,  and  honestly 
made,  and  in  this  he  succeeded.  When,  towards 
the  close  of  the  opening,  in  the  midst  of  a  serious  in- 
terruption from  the  prisoner.  Colonel  Corkhill  rose 
to  object,  and  unfortunately  spoke  of  Mr.  Scoville 
as  "  attempting  to  get  into  a  public  altercation 
with,  the  prisoner,"  Mr.  Scoville  responded  with 
becoming  dignity,  and  a  slight  ripple  of  approba- 
tion showed  that  the  assembly,  whatever  they  might 
think  of  the  prisouer,  believed  in  the  honest  inten- 
tion of  his  counsel. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  interruptions  by  the  pris- 
oner and  to  the  so-called  "  applause,"  and  may  as 
well  call  attention  to  them  at  this  point  as  any 
other.  A  great  deal  of  comment,  not  overwise, 
has  been  made  about  the  laughter  and  applause  at 
this  trial,  so  frequently  reported  by  the  daily  press. 
The  newspaper  statements  convey  an  entirely  erro- 
neous impression  in  regard  to  the  fact.  The  court- 
room was  every  day  packed  with  spectators,  and 
during  the  eight  weeks  that  I  was  present  the  con- 
duct was,  with  rare  exception,  in  the  language  of 
the  diurnal  admonition  of  Marshal  Henry,  "  with 
the  same  propriety  as  if  they  were  at  church." 
Indeed,  I  have  heard  laughter  and  applause  in 
Henry  Ward  Beecher's  church  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  anything  that  I  observed  in  the  court-room. 
Deputies,  distributed  through   the  room,  promptly 


DO  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

silenced   auy  whispering   or  moving  about  in  the 
crowd. 

The  prolonged  stillness  was  sometimes  remarka- 
ble. It  may  be  thought  that  the  solemnity  of  the 
occasion  would  be,  in  itself,  enough  to  repress  any- 
thing like  levity.  A  merciful  provision  in  our  or- 
ganization is  that  the  deepest  grief  cannot  be  in- 
definitely prolonged  ;  the  strain  would  else  prove 
fatal,  or  reason  would  be  dethroned.  Something 
dissolves  away  with  the  tears,  and  we  have  found 
relief.  The  sadness  of  a  funeral,  even,  could  not  be 
prolonged  through  ten  weeks ;  it  would  become 
ludicrous,  if  not  intolerable.  We  all  recall  such 
public  funerals.  But  while  the  solemnity  of  the 
cjurt-room  wore  off,  there  was  no  lack  of  respect- 
ful decorum  except  on  the  part  of  the  prisoner.  Of 
applause  there  was  but  the  slightest  ripjile  ;  only 
one  day  did  I  hear  anything  noisy  in  that  line, 
and  this  was  by  a  conspicuous  small  boy,  who  was 
promptly  ejected  by  the  deputy  marshal.  There 
were  abundant  occasions  to  provoke  laughter,  but 
the  demonstration  seldom  amounted  to  more  than 
a  slight  rustle.  Once,  when  a  medical  witness  held 
up  to  view,  for  the  first  time,  the  white  plaster  cast 
of  Guif.eau's  head,  the  prisoner  called  out  from  the 
dock,  '•  That  looks  like  Humpty  Dumpty  !  "  and  the 
picture  was  so  true  to  life  that  there  was  an  audi- 
ble smile  through  the  room.     So  far  from  the  court 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  59 

presenting  the  appearance  of  an  amusement  hall, 
as  some  sensational  penny-a-liners  wonld  make  us 
believe,  I  am  sure  that,  excepting  the  prisoner, 
every  one  present,  from  the  judge  on  the  bench  to 
the  venturesome  small  boy  clinging  at  the  window, 
endeavored  to  maintain  perfect  decorum  ;  and  if 
an}^  laughter  or  aj^plause  occurred  it  was  forced 
from  them  by  the  situation  at  the  moment,  and  w^as, 
in  a  sense,  involuntary.  The  interruptions  by  the 
prisoner  w^ere  frequent,  persistent,  and  of  quite 
another  character ;  and  as  these  have  been  very 
differently  estimated,  according  to  the  stand-point 
and  convictions  of  the  observer,  I  prefer  to  leave 
their  consideration  until  the  record  of  the  case  has 
been  more  fully  presented.  It  is  enough  to  say 
here  that,  so  far  from  being  manifestations  of  a 
feigned  insanity,  they  were  part  and  parcel  of 
Guiteau's  make-up,  and  were  eminently  character- 
istic of  the  man. 

The  evidence  introduced  for  the  defense  and  in 
rebuttal  by  the  government  occupied  nearly  six 
weeks  of  the  trial,  and  embraced  all  points  in  the 
career  of  the  prisoner,  in  the  family  history  and 
elsew'here,  that  might  be  supposed  to  throw  any 
light  upon  the  mental  condition  of  Guiteau  on  the 
second  day  of  July,  1881.  The  rulings  of  the  court 
were  liberal  in  this.  "  If  your  honor  please,"  said 
Mr.  Scoville  iu  his  opening,  "  this  case  depends  en- 


60  TWO   HARD    CASi:S. 

tirely  upon  showing  the  condition  of  the  prisoner's 
mind."  Well  did  his  honor  reply,  "  I  understand 
that,  and  I  do  not  propose  that  you  sliall  be  excluded 
from  the  benefit  of  any  testimony  bearing  u^^on  that 
point."  Having  that  single  purpose  in  view,  we 
shall  best  arrive  at  it  by  a  study  of  all  the  facts, 
without  reference  to  the  order  in  which  they  were 
brought  out  in  the  testimony,  or  elsewhere,  satisfy- 
ing ourselves  only  that  they  are  facts.  The  med- 
ical expert  testimony  is  quite  another  matter ;  -that 
should  be  considered  by  itself. 

The  original  Guiteau  stock  in  this  country  was 
French  Huguenot.  The  question  of  the  hereditary 
character  of  insanity  properly  comes  in  with  the 
discussion  of  the  testimony  of  the  medical  experts, 
but  whatever  may  be  said  in  regard  to  the  inher- 
itance of  disease,  I  believe  the  world  is  agreed  that 
certain  family  peculiarities,  traits  of  character,  and 
personal  features  are  transmitted.  Witness  the  royal 
house  of  Hapsburg,  that  has  kept  its  thick  upper 
lip  for  centuries.  The  old  Huguenot  braved  much 
and  suffered  much  for  his  religious  convictions  ;  the 
religious  element  of  cliaracter  w^as  one  strong  enough 
to  bear  transmission  many  times.  In  the  midst  of 
a  generation  of  agnostics  it  appears  in  John  W. 
Guiteau  to-day.  Mentally  the  Guiteaus  were  a 
strong  race ;  at  least  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  judge 
from  the  meagre  details  of  their  history  in  our 
hands. 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  61 

The  great-grandfather  and  the  grandfather  of 
the  pi'isoner  were  leading  country  physicians,  at  a 
time  when  it  indicated  something  both  in  physical 
and  mental  vigor  to  be  a  doctor  in  charge  of  a  thirty- 
mile  circuit  in  the  country.  Communities  settled 
their  physician  then  much  as  they  did  their  minis- 
ter, for  life ;  they  were  men  whose  professional 
opinion  was  law,  and  respected  as  such.  The  de- 
scendants of  collateral  branches  of  Guiteau's  family 
are  prominent  ,and  respected  citizens  in  different 
localities  of  the  State  of  New  York  at  the  present 
time.  It  is  in  evidence  respecting  the  father  of  the 
prisoner  that  he  had  been  elected  again  and  again 
to  offices  of  trust  and  responsibility  ;  that  on  account 
of  his  services  in  the  cause  of  education  a  school 
had  been  named  in  his  honor  in  his  Western  home ; 
and  one  witness  ranked  him  as  the  third  man  in 
his  county. 

From  a  medical  stand-point  the  trouble  in  the 
Guiteau  family  begins  three  generations  back. 
For  posterity,  the  union  of  Francis  Guiteau  and 
Hannah  AVilson  was  unfortunate,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  domestic  felicity  of  their  married 
life.  The  old  French  and  the  old  Scotch  blood 
were  there  unhappily  mingled.  The  mother  gave 
birth  to  eleven  children,  dying  herself  of  "  old-fash- 
ioned consumption  "  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy- 
seven  years.    Of  their  eleven  children,  one  lived  only 


62  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

a  few  hours  ;  ten  grew  up  to  adult  age.     Of  these, 
five,  Julius,  Calvin,  Francis,  Mary,  and  Julia,  aud 
perhaps  the  sixth,  Sophronia,  died  of    pulmonary 
disease.     It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  this  happened 
independent  of    any  family  disposition.     AYe   class 
consumption  among  the  constitutional  diseases  pre- 
disposing to  insanity,  and  two  of  the  above,  Francis 
and  Julia,  were  said  to  have  been  at  one  time  in- 
sane, Francis  dying  of  consumption  in  the  Blooming- 
dale  Asylum  for  the  Insane.     Still  another  sister, 
Anna  C.  Parker,  was  thought  to  have  been  insane 
early  in  her  married  life.     The  proof  of  this  at  the 
trial,  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Parker,  depended  entirely, 
and    in    that  of    Mrs.  Maynard  largely,  upon   the 
deposition  of  a   highly  respectable  old   gentleman 
over  eighty  years  of  age,  to  facts  that  came  under 
his  observation  more  than  fifty  years  before.     As 
a  rule,  age  remembers  the  scenes  of   early  life  viv- 
idly, even  after  the  time  when  recent  events  are 
obliterated.     It  should  be  said,  in  regard  to  Turner's 
deposition,  that    at  the  time  when  he  remarked  a 
"flightiness  "  in  Mrs.  Maynard  he  was  very  intimate 
in  the  family,  his  own  little  girl,  who  had  been  left 
motherless,  making  it  her  home,  so  that  very  nat- 
urally he   would   closely   observe    the    action    and 
words  of  Mrs.  Maynard.     It  was  also  claimed  that 
Mrs.  Maynard  was  insane  at  the  time  of  her  death, 
Mr.  Turner  deposing  that  he  was  so  informed  by 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  63 

her  husband  some  years  after  that  event ;  and  a  wit- 
ness named  Davis  testified  that  he  saw  her  during 
her  last  illness,  when  she  manifested  insane  delu- 
sions. To  refute  this,  the  government  brought  a 
daughter  of  Mrs.  Maynard,  IMrs.  Wilson,  appar- 
ently a  very  truthful  woman,  who  testified  that  she 
nursed  her  mother  day  and  night  during  her  last 
sickness,  and  that  she  could  not  have  been  insane 
at  that  time  ;  that  not  only  she  was  not  insane 
then,  but  she  never  heard  of  her  being  insane  at 
any  other  time,  or  that  her  aunt  Parker  had  ever 
been  so.  The  effect  of  this  is  to  throw  a  doubt  on 
the  truth  of  Turner's  deposition  :  but  so  far  as  that 
related  to  the  witness's  personal  observation  of  Mrs. 
Maynard  and  Mrs.  Parker  it  was  in  regard  to  oc- 
currences before  the  birth  of  Mrs.  Wilson,  or  when 
she  was  an  infant,  and  insanity  in  the  family  is  not 
a  topic  likely  to  be  discussed  before  the  children ; 
indeed,  Mrs.  Wilson  distinctly  stated  that  she  never 
heard  of  the  insanity  of  her  uncle  Francis  before, 
though  it  was  of  undisputed  record  that  he  died  in 
an  insane  hospital.  There  seems  to  be  no  good 
reason  to  doubt  that  Tui-ner  told  the  truth  in  testi- 
fying to  what  he  had  observed  of  these  two  women 
when  he  was  a  young  man;  his  recollection  of  state- 
ments made  to  him  in  later  life  he  may  have  con- 
fused. It  was  further  shown  that  Mrs.  Pai'ker  had 
a  son  and  Mrs.  Maynard  a  daughter  insane  ;  but  the 


64  Tiro   HARD    CASES. 

inference  of  the  mother's  insanity  from  that  of  the 
child  is  not  conclusive,  and  in  the  present  instance 
was  very  much  weakened,  at  least,  by  the  fact  that 
the  father  of  the  one  was  intemperate,  and  of  the 
other  suicidally  insane.  In  the  case  of  Mrs.  Par- 
ker, as  if  insanity  was  not  enough,  she  died  of  can- 
cer, adding  another  to  the  diseases  developed  in  this 
ill-starred  family  that  have  usually  been  classed  as 
hereditary.  Abram  Guiteau  died  intemperate  and 
dissipated,  broken  down  in  body,  as  his  death  from 
er3'^sipelus  shows.  There  is  no  proof  of  insanity? 
but  he  had  probably  very  little  strength  of  mind  ; 
whatever  ailed  him  his  life  developed  unfortunately. 
It  was  the  misfortune  of  the  remaining  daughter, 
Hannah,  —  no,  I  am  not  sure  that  it  was  a  misfor- 
tune —  to  have  been  cut  off  by  cholera  before  con- 
sumption, or  cancer,  or  insanity  had  made  its  ap- 
pearance. 

The  last  child  born  to  Francis  Guiteau  and  Han- 
nah Wilson,  Luther  W.  Guiteau,  was  the  father  of 
Charles  J.,  who  is  said  to  bear  a  striking  personal 
resemblance  to  his  sire.  The  testimony  both  for 
the  prosecution  and  the  defense  is  in  accord  in  re- 
gard to  his  ability  and  upright  character,  but  is  con- 
flicting respecting  his  mental  condition.  "  I  never 
knew  a  more  pure  man  in  my  life,"  testified  one 
who  believed  him  "  off "  in  religion  and  politics. 
*'  Always  interested  in  the  cause  of  education,  tern- 


TWO  HARD  CASES.  65 

perance,  or  anything  in  that  direction  that  was 
good,"  said  a  physician  who  had  known  him  for 
years,  attended  him  in  his  last  sickness,  and  testified 
that  he  "  never  saw  the  slightest  indications  of  any 
mental  tronble  in  the  man."  "  The  most  intensely 
honest  and  sincere  man  I  ever  met ;  "  this  from  one 
who  believed  there  was  a  trace  of  insanity  in  him, 
and  that  when  he  said  "  Take  a  knife  and  slay  him 
as  Abraham  did  Isaac,"  he  actually  meant  it,  being 
in  a  frenzy  that  he  mistook  for  inspiration.  "  Re- 
liable, honest,  clear-headed,  business  man  ;  "  this 
from  one  who,  when  told  by  him  that  he  did  not  ex- 
pect to  die,  "  never  thought  that  he  really  believed 
it,  but  that  he  had  a  hope  that  by  living  a  pure  life, 
such  as  was  required  by  the  New  Testament,  that 
possibly  he  might  not  die." 

These  extracts,  perhaps,  sufficiently  indicate  the 
direction  of  the  testimony,  its  accord  and  discord. 
There  seems  no  good  reason  to  doubt  that  both 
classes  were  honest  in  their  belief.  Witnesses  who 
had  come  in  contact  with  Luther  W.  Guiteau  in 
business  relations,  and  the  casual  meetings  of  daily 
intercourse,  were  impressed  with  his  strong  sense, 
his  methodic  business  ways,  his  truthful  life,  and 
never  dreamed  that  he  was  not  a  perfectly  sane 
man,  of  remarkably  even  balanced  mind.  Those 
who  saw  him  in  all  moods,  who  lived  with  him  in 
his  home,  heard  him  speak  in  religious  meetings, 
5 


66  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

and  knew  his  inner  life,  were  equally  impressed  with 
his  good  natural  sense,  his  unquestioned  ability, 
and  perfect  truthfulness.  All  the  more,  therefore, 
they  felt  that  there  was  at  times  something  in  his 
actions  and  his  words  that  all  the  Huguenot  blood, 
in  his  veins,  with  the  intensity  which  is  common  to 
religions  convictions,  could  not  explain;  they  felt 
that  there  was  an  insanity  there,  often  latent,  some- 
times revealed.  In  his  ecstasy  he  believed  that  by 
prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  hands  he  could  himself 
raise  the  sick  to  health,  and  that  he  might  attain, 
nay,  had  already  attained,  to  a  union  with  Christ, 
in  which  he  should  live  forever  on  the  earth ;  not, 
in  the  language  of  the  Episcoj)al  service,  that  he 
should  "  not  die  eternally,"  but  that  this  crumbling 
tabernacle  of  the  flesh  should  never  pass  away. 

Theoretically,  he  accepted  all  the  doctrines  of 
the  perfectionist,  John  II.  Noyes,  the  founder  of 
the  Oneida  Community,  a  socialistic  band  which, 
in  following  those  doctrines  to  their  legitimate  re- 
sults, became  a  perfect  sink  of  licentiousness  ;  but 
they  never  soiled  the  whiteness  of  his  soul.  To 
Luther  W.  Guiteau,  the  community  of  John  H. 
Noyes  seemed  the  beginning  of  the  setting  up  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth  ;  his  followers 
pure  as  the  angels,  "  who  neither  marry  nor  are 
given  in  marriage." 

Had  it  been  possible,  the  defense  should  have 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  67 

made  their  testimony  a  unit  on  the  question  of  the 
father's  mental  condition,  whether  sane  or  insane. 
As  it  was,  when  they  closed  they  had  raised  a  ques- 
tion of  the  sanity  rather  than  established  his  in- 
sanity, and  on  this  question  the  house  of  Guiteau 
was  "divided  against  itself."  The  prisoner  said 
that  his  father  was  "  badly  cranked  "  on  religion. 
jNIrs.  Scoville  leaves  this  to  be  inferred  from  a 
quoted  remark  of  her  uncle  Maynard,  rather  tlian 
from  any  direct  statement  of  her  own  ;  while  John, 
who  adopts  many  of  the  singular  religious  beliefs 
of  his  father  as  his  own,  stoutly  asserts  that  "  he 
never  saw  anything  in  him  that  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree indicated  him  to  be  of  unsound  mind."  It  is 
true  it  was  in  evidence  that,  during  the  years  in 
which  insanity  was  claimed,  John  hardly  saw  his 
father,  and  by  his  interruptions  in  the  court-room 
he  made  it  an  open  secret  that  there  was  a  quarrel 
between  him  and  the  counsel  for  the  defense  on  the 
question  of  the  insanity  in  the  family  being  brought 
into  the  trial.  Somehow,  what  is  simply  the  great- 
est misfortune  which  can  afflict  humanity  has  come 
to  be  reajarded  as  a  disorace. 

The  prosecution,  on  the  other  hand,  fully  realiz- 
ing the  vital  importance  of  establishing  the  perfect 
mental  soundness  of  the  father,  brought  a  number 
of  the  leading  citizens  of  Freeport,  111.,  some  of 
whom  had  known  him  for  twenty-five,  thirty,  forty 


68  TWO   HARD   CASES. 

years.  They  testified  to  the  respect  which  he 
commanded,  the  very  responsible  positions  which 
he  had  held,  even  to  tlie  day  of  his  death,  —  offices 
which  certainly  would  not  have  been  intrusted  to 
a  man  known  to  be  insane  ;  that  in  all  their  inter- 
course they  had  never  suspected  the  slightest  men- 
tal unsoundness  in  him.  The  only  point  that  the 
defense  was  able  to  make  in  the  cross-examination 
was  that,  for  the  most  part,  these  men  had  not  con- 
versed with  him  on  religious  matters,  and  did  not 
know  his  belief  ;  or,  if  they  had  heard  him  on  those 
topics,  it  was  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  when 
he  had  considerably  modified  his  views.  The  one 
witness  for  the  government  who  had  listened  to  his 
statement  that  he  did  not  expect  to  die,  did  not 
think  he  really  believed  it.  It  was  shown  that  he 
had  employed  physicians  in  the  care  of  his  family, 
indicating  that  he  did  not  feel  that  his  ability  to 
heal  the  sick  rendered  the  use  of  medicines  unnec- 
essary ;  that  as  early  as  18G7  he  had  taken  out  a  pol- 
icy in  an  insurance  company  on  his  own  life  ;  also 
that,  during  the  last  years  of  his  life,  he  had  made 
liis  will,  which  a  man  believing  that  he  would  never 
die  would,  obviously,  not  have  done.  But  grant 
that  at  one  time  in  his  life,  level-headed  though  he 
was,  he  imbibed  strange  religious  ideas;  mistaken 
religious  belief  is  common,  and  is  not,  in  itself,  evi- 
dence of  insanity.     This  point  was  properly  made 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  69 

by  the  government.  Insanity  is  a  mental  disorder, 
and  not  an  intellectual  process.  But  because  mis- 
taken religious  belief  is  not  insanity,  and  because 
Luther  W.  Guiteau  entertained  a  mistaken  religious 
belief,  you  cannot,  therefore,  reason  that  he  was  not 
insane. 

The  fact  of  sanity  or  insanity  depends,  not  on 
what  a  man  thinks,  but  how  he  thinks  it.  The 
point  which  the  defense  failed  to  make  on  the 
question  of  Luther  W.  Guiteau's  religious  belief  is 
that,  identically,  the  same  belief  of  power  to  heal 
the  sick  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  may  be  the 
normal  outgrowth  of  the  highest  devotional  feelins^ 
in  one  person's  mind,  and  in  that  of  another  the 
result  of  delusion  springing  from  insanity.  One 
accustomed  to  the  study  of  insane  persons,  by  as- 
sociating with  them,  can  generally  determine,  after 
observing  the  case  for  a  time,  wliether  it  results 
from  a  disordered  mind  or  religious  zeal ;  and  his 
decision  is  likely  to  depend  quite  as  much  upon  the 
actions,  and  manner,  and  whole  personal  appear- 
ance of  the  individual,  as  upon  the  ideas  expressed. 
But  while  the  defense  gave  us  something  of  this 
in  the  testimony  of  Thomas  North,  afterwards  in- 
geniously ridiculed  by  Mr.  Davidge  as  "word  pict- 
ures," it  failed  to  convince  the  experts  that  he  was 
insane  ;  and  in  view  of  the  whole  testimony  sub- 
mitted, I  think  the  jury  could  hardly  avoid  the  con- 


70  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

elusion  that  the  father  of  the  prisoner  was  a  man 
whose  sanity  would  never  have  been  questioned 
but  for  the  trial  of  his  son. 

The  importance,  in  a  doubtful  case  of  this  kind, 
of  having  the  testimon^^  of  some  person  skilled  in 
observing  the  insane,  who  may  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  personally  studying  the  case  at  the  time 
when  insanity  is  claimed,  can  hardly  be  overesti- 
mated. It  would  certainly  be  entitled  to  great 
weiglit,  and,  in  a  doubtful  issue,  it  might  turn  the 
scale.  Too  late,  the  defense  endeavored  to  intro- 
duce the  testimony  of  Dr.  Andrew  McFarland,  of 
Jacksonville,  111.,  a  superintendent  of  hospitals  for 
the  insane,  of  more  than  thirty  years'  experience, 
and,  as  the  junior  counsel  for  the  defense  remarked, 
the  "  peer  of  any  man  who  had  testified  in  the  case." 
He  had  enjoyed  just  the  opportunity  needed  to 
study  the  mental  condition  of  Luther  W.  Guiteau, 
at  his  hospital,  in  1864,  at  the  exact  time  when,  as 
claimed  by  the  defense,  he  was  partially  insane. 

At  last,  when  the  long  array  of  experts  had  fin- 
ished, there  was  sitting  in  the  court-room  the  ex- 
pert who  knew  more  of  the  real  mental  condition 
of  Luther  W.  Guiteau,  at  one  time  in  his  life,  than 
any  witness  who  liad  testified.  Here  was  the  man 
who,  perhaps,  would  supply  the  "  missing-  link  "  in 
the  argument  for  hereditary  transmission,  and,  by 
his  testimony,  turn  the  scale  in  favor  of  the  doubt. 


TWO   HARD    CASES.  71 

It  was  too  late,  for  the  court  ruled  that  to  re- 
open the  case  it  must  be  testimony  that  would  be 
ground  for  granting  a  new  trial ;  that  any  facts  in 
regard  to  the  father  would  be,  at  best,  but  cumula- 
tive of  what  had  been  already  given,  and  the  in- 
sanity of  the  father,  even  if  proved,  would  not 
establish  that  of  the  son,  and  any  testimony  that 
Dr.  McFarland  might  give  in  regard  to  the  pris- 
oner could  only  be  an  opinion,  of  which  there  bad 
been  so  many  before.  This  was,  doubtless,  good 
law,  and  so  Dr.  McFailand  went  back  as  he  came. 
But  to  the  imnartial  review  of  histor}'^  notiiiug 
comes  too  late  ;  all  the  facts  are  none  too  many  for 
the  truth,  and  I  take  the  liberty  to  insert  here  a 
letter  received  from  Dr.  McFarland  since  the  trial 
closed :  — 

Oak  Lawn  Retreat,  Jacksoxville,  III., 
April  5,  1882. 

Dear  Sir,  —  Your  valued  favor  of  the  2d 
reached  me  just  as  I  am  but  fairly  convalescent 
from  a  severe  sickness,  dating  from  a  cold  taken 
while  in  protracted  court  attendance  in  Colorado, 
in  February.  I  am  but  just  getting  out  of  bed,  and 
am  altogether  unequal  to  correspondence ;  have 
hardly  more  than  signed  my  name  for  the  past 
month. 

The  only  real  fact  I  have  bearing  at  all  on  the 
great  criminal  you  refer  to,  is   One  which  has  im- 


72  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

pressed  me  with  all  the  force  that  we  give  to  the 
principle  of  heredity.  From  the  instant  of  hearing 
who  the  assailant  of  the  President  w^as,  my  theory 
of  the  crime  was  what  it  substantially  is  now. 

The  father  of  Guitean  —  a  total  stranger  —  visited 
me  in  1864.  He  came  w^ith  his  second  wife  and 
the  latter's  insane  sister.  Tiie  patient  was  verging 
on  complete  exhaustion,  and  he  proposed  staying  a 
few  days,  remaining  part  of  a  Aveek.  But  he  soon 
seemed  to  lose  all  interest  whatever  in  the  patient, 
and  devoted  all  his  time  and  took  up  all  of  mine, 
to  the  limit  at  least  of  my  courtesy,  in  following 
me  up  with  a  strain  of  discourse,  the  staple  of 
which  I  perceived  to  be  delusional,  though  mingled 
with  much  fruit  of  reading,  and  an  intelligence  of 
quite  high  order  for  a  man  of  his  standing.  It  was 
not  the  blunt  proposition  of  actual  insane  absurdi- 
ties, for  his  intelligent  caution  prevented  his  going 
so  far ;  but  he  would  state  his  theory,  and  appeal  to 
me  with  some  such  query  as,  "  Now  is  there  any- 
thing in  that  contrary  to  reason  ?  "  or,  "  Does  n't 
the  Bible  support  that  view  ?  "  or,  "  Has  n't  your 
experience  proved  this  or  that  ? "  etc.  His  tone 
was  that  of  a  man  who  had  long  brooded  in  secret 
over  disordered' fancies,  and  who  had  taken  that 
chance  to  get  some  backing.  /As  I  now  recollect, 
he  believed  in  the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis ;  that 
death  was  the  exchange  of  the  effete  and  worn-out 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  73 

body  for  a  new-created,  infantile  one.  But  his 
great  theme  was  insanity,  its  nature  and  causation. 
His  view  (as  I  got  it)  was  that  insanity  was  just 
what  New  Testament  Scripture  "  makes  it,  mere 
diabolical  possession,  and  that  superior  virtue,  such 
as  Jesus  Christ  possessed,  could  cast  it  out  now 
the  same  as  in  that  instance.  The  testimony  of 
John  W.  Guiteau  in  regard  to  the  belief  -of  the 
whole  family  on  this  subject  is  substantially  what 
the  father  unfolded  at  that  time. 

On  Sunday,  I  being  at  church,  he  availed  himself 
of  the  opportunity  to  visit  the  ward,  where  his  sister- 
in-law  was,  to  make  practical  demonstration  of  his 
powers  in  the  way  of  exorcism.  I  heard  ludicrous 
accounts  of  his  methods  over  different  patients,  but 
was  not  a  witness  of  them.  They  consisted,  as  I 
learned,  in  standing  in  a  devotional  attitude  over 
the  patient,  muttering  something  inaudibly,  and 
making  passes  with  his  hands.  I  don't  think  it  was 
so  much  the  erratic  beliefs  of  the  man  that  im- 
pressed me  as  it  was  the  complete  absorption  of  all 
his  thought  in  them,  his  persistent  return  to  the 
same  topics  whenever  he  caught  me  for  a  moment 
at  leisure,  and  the  general  complexion  of  the  thought 
as  it  strikes  the  observer. 

Now,  while  the  delusions  of  the  father  and  the 
son  prove  the  opposite  of  each  other  in  their  ten- 
dencies, and  especially  their  results,  the  fundamen- 


74  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

tal  nature  of  the  two  is  the  same,  —  a  belief  in  the 
power  to  act  by  supernatural  agency ;  for  this  is  y 
what  C.  J.  Guiteau's  talk  amounts  to,  when  you  sift 
it  out  from  the  chaff  of  his  wild  and  irrelevant  rhod- 
oraontade.  lie  has  the  same  fearlessness,  defiance, 
and  bombast,  the  same  faith  in  the  final  outcome, 
that  all  the  lunatics  have  who  believe  themselves 
divinely  led,  and  so  he  will  be  to  his  last  breath. 

A  remark  in  yours  leads  me  to  add  that  I  have 
no  disposition  to  increase  the  public  literature  of 
this  subject,  but  will  hail  your  contribution  with 
pleasure.  AVith  apologies  for  the  imperfectness  of 
the  above.  Very  truly  yours, 

Andrew  McFarland. 

Dr.  W.  W.  Godding. 

Dr.  McFarland  has  been  so  long  and  so  widely 
known  and  respected  as  a  Nestor  among  experts  on 
insanity  that  his  letter  needs  no  commentary  of 
mine.  From  these  observations  of  Dr.  McFarland 
in  1864,  and  those  of  Thomas  North,  made  at  an 
earlier,  also  at  a  later,  date,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  testimony  for  the  government,  we  may 
conclude  that,  while  the  mind  of  Luther  \V.  Guiteau 
was  at  times  on  the  border-land  and  at  times  over- 
stepped the  bounds  of  sanity,  he  was  not  contin- 
uously insane ;  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  very 
method  and  regularity  of  his  business  life,  the  close 


TWO   HARD    CASES.  75 

attention  which  Ins  duties  as  a  cashier  demanded, 
acted  as  a  wholesome  restraint  to  the  religious 
speculations  springing  from  his  insane  tempera- 
ment, and  even  helped  to  disengage  the  "delicate 
skein  of  thought,"  already  "  tangled,"  very  much 
as  the  dull  round  of  daily  duty  in  the  East  India 
House  is  believed  to  have  saved  the  brilliant  mind 
of  Charles  Lamb  from  a  second  attack  of  the  in- 
sanity which  so  often  recurred  in  his  sister. 

This  is  Guiteau's  inheritance  on  the  father's  side. 
We  have  no  evidence  of  insanity  in  his  mother,  but 
the  testimony  both  for  the  government  and  the 
defense  is  in  accord  that  she  was  a  feeble,  sick 
woman  long  before,  and  for  years  after,  the  birth 
of  Charles ;    indeed,  up  to  the  time  of  her  death. 

From  the  medical  stand-point,  this  is  the  second 
mistake  in  the  marriages  of  the  Guiteau  family. 
There  is  but  a  dim  outline  of  the  mother,  and  that 
soon  vanishes,  but  not  till  six  children  are  born  in 
that  wedlock.  There  is  the  recollection  of  a  lit- 
tie  girl,  but  confirmed  by  others,  of  a  pale,  sick 
mother,  who  was  bled,  with  shaven  head;  neurnl- 
gia  they  called  it,  and  the  house  hushed  from 
noise.  Yet  living  children  are  born  to  that  motljer  ! 
John  and  Francis,  coming  before  her  illness,  are 
living,  and  testified  at  the  trial.  John  inherits  the 
father's  theology  and  some  of  his  peculiarities. 
Mrs.  Scoville,  in  all  this  trying  ordeal,  has  shown 


76  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

a  touching  devotion  and  strong  purpose,  combined 
with  most  womanly  weakness ;  of  more  painful 
later  rumors  I  have  no  autliority  to  speak,  not 
knowinor  the  facts.  She  is  said  to  have  long:  suf- 
fered  from  a  nervous  disease.  A  third  child,  a  son, 
who  dies  in  infancy,  is  born,  perhaps  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  mother's  illness  ;  then  Charles  J., 
while  the  mother  is  kept  secluded  and  away  from 
noise  in  that  upper  room ;  then  another  man  child, 
who  is  born  deformed,  and  lives  but  two  years  ; 
and  then  a  girl,  who  dies  at  twenty  months  of  what 
the  sister  calls  quick  consumption,  and  Charles  is 
coughing  from  the  first,  and  it  was  said  he,  too,  was 
born  with  consumption  ;  but  the  cough  disappears, 
and  he  lived  to  grow  up,  who  should  have  died, 
with  the  heritage  that  father  and  mother  brought 
him.  It  is  a  comforting  dogma  that  disease  is  not 
hereditary  :  would  that  it  were  a  fact. 

"  She  sees  her  little  bud  put  forth  its  leaves ; 
What  may  the  fruit  be  vet '?    1  know  not,  —  Cain  was  Eve's." 

A  nervous,  restless  boy,  bright  and  precocious 
in  activity,  but  backward  in  sense,  a  contradiction 
from  the  start.  His  grandfatlier  Howe  said  he  was 
the  smartest  Guiteau  he  knew  of,  and  by  his  will 
left  him  a  thousand  dollars  ;  his  father  said  "  he 
knew  he  could  speak  plain,"  and  at  the  age  of  six 
flogged  him  to  improve  his  orthoepy,  without  result. 
Sunderland,   the   teacher    who    was    successful   in 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  77 

treating  this  later,  testifies  that  it  was  a  difficulty 
in  articulating  or  pronouncing  words. 

It  is  nothing  strange  that  a  child  should  have 
trouble  in  producing  certain  sounds,  and  under 
judicious  management  this  seems  to  have  disap- 
peared ;  but  that  he  should  be  unable  to  associate 
ideas  with  a  whipping,  that  saps  the  very  founda- 
tion of  early  education,  —  there  must  be  something 
wrong  with  such  a  boy.  Mrs.  Scoville  says,  in  her 
testimony,  "  Father  would  whip  hira,  and  after  he 
had  punished  him  he  would  say,  '  Now  say  pail ; ' 
and  he  would  say  '  qnail '  every  time."  Neither 
father  nor  son  seemed  to  have  any  realizing  sense 
of  the  situation  at  the  time.  That  has  been  the 
trouble  with  the  son  all  through  his  life. 

Before  he  was  seven  years  old  his  mother  died  ; 
it  mattered  very  little  when,  for  from  that  poor 
sick  woman  he  could  never  have  had  a  mother's 
care.  He  said  to  me  in  jail,  with  a  certain  pathos, 
"  I  never  knew,  when  a  child,  what  it  was  to  have 
a  mother."  It  would  seem  that  for  a  time  after  his 
mother's  death  the  boy  "  boarded  round."  He  was 
with  his  grandfather  Howe,  and  with  his  uncle. 
Sometimes  his  father  was  with  him,  oftener  not. 
Some  schooling  in  winter,  more  playing  with  boys 
about  the  wharf,  at  his  grandfather's.  Now  and 
then  comes  in  the  kindly  oversight  of  a  married 
sister,  and  there  is  six  months  at  school  with  a 


78  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

Chicago  teacher.  Then  his  father  marries  again, 
and,  though  he  runs  away  from  liome  on  the  an- 
nouncement, and  is  '"dead-lieaded"  on  the  raih'oad 
to  Chicago,  at  the  age  of  thirteen  he  returns  to  the 
enjoyment  of  that  father's  disci})line  and  a  step- 
mother's care. 

A  year  or  two  further  on,  we  find  him  in  a 
music  store  at  Davenport,  Iowa.  Something  goes 
wrong  there,  and  there  is  a  six  monllis'  term  in  a 
commercial  college  in  Chicago,  hoarding,  meantime, 
with  his  sister.  Then  he  goes  hack  to  his  father, 
copying  deeds  as  a  deputy  clerk  in  his  office,  and 
living  at  home  till,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  not 
with  his  father's  approbation,  but  with  a  consent 
reluctantly  given,  he  decides  to  spend  a  portion  of 
his  grandfather's  legacy  in  acquiring  a  collegiate 
education,  and  places  himself  in  a  preparatory 
school  at  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  in  the  autumn 
of  1859. 

The  outlines  of  this  formative  stage  of  his  life 
are  indistinct  in  the  testimony  given,  and  his  coun- 
sel, in  their  argument,  represent  him  when  entering 
school  at  Ann  Arbor  as  a  guileless  youtli,  gentle 
and  affectionate,  standing  on  the  threshold  of  his 
opening  manhood  clad  in  the  purity  of  an  unsullied 
life,  with  a  high  ideal  in  his  heart.  Careful  exam- 
ination shows  this  to  he  a  matter  of  whitewashing. 
Only  meagre  facts  of  this  period  are  in  our  posses- 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  79 

sion,  but  such  as  they  are  they  do  not  justify  the 
picture.  Mrs.  Scoville  calls  him  a  "  troublesome 
child  "  on  account  of  a  restless  activity,  but  remem- 
bers him  at  the  age  of  thirteen  a^^  an  affectionate 
lad,  and  very  much  attached  to  her.  John  AY. 
Guiteau  says  he  was  "'  nervous  "  in  his  activity  as 
a  child  ;  that  at  one  time  his  father  offered  him  ten 
cents  to  keep  his  hands  and  feet  still  for  five  min- 
utes, but  he  did  not  earn  the  money.  This  rest- 
lessness has  continued  a  marked  feature  in  his  life 
up  to  the  present  time. 

Unrest  is  a  natural  trait  of  human  character  ; 
quaint  old  George  Herbert  recognizes  the  want  of 
rest  among  the  gifts  God  gave  to  man,  and  styles  it 
a  "  repining  restlessness."  Those  who  have  been 
much  among  the  insane  do  not  need  to  be  told  that 
in  them  this  trait  is  often  exaggerated,  and  from  a 
"  repining  "  it  becomes,  to  their  peace  of  mind,  a 
consuming  restlessness.  In  Guiteau  we  shall  see 
more  of  this  farther  on,  but  up  to  the  age  of  seven- 
teen it  is  \ery  marked.  I  find  no  evidence  that  he 
was  a  good  boy.  His  sister's  love  went  out  towards 
him  from  the  first,  —  it  will  leave  him,  never  ;  but, 
with  this  exception,  he  seems  to  have  made  no 
friend  through  his  life. 

Thomas  North,  who  lived  in  the  family,  and 
knew  him  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  testified  that  "  he 
never,  seemed  to  have  a   friend  or  associate  with 


80  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

anybody  of  either  sex  ;  "  that  he  manifested  an  of- 
fensive egotism  in  the  office,  wishing  to  usurp  the 
duties  of  other  clerks.  "  The  biggest  bump  on  his 
head  seemed  to  me  at  that  time  to  be  that  of  ego- 
tism." North  also  testifies  to  a  fight  at  the  table 
between  him  and  his  father,  during  the  last  year  of 
his  residence  at  home.  It  would  seem  that  his 
fatlier  neglected  and  flogged  him  b}'-  turns.  The 
son,  wayward  at  first,  grew  more  so  ;  he  acquired 
some  bad  habits,  and,  singularly  enough,  omitted 
others  ;  that  contradiction  remains  in  him  to-day. 
His  father,  with  his  strange  theology,  seems  early 
to  have  classed  him  with  the  "  devil's  seed,"  and 
where  he  planted  him,  what  w^as  there  to  hinder 
his  taking  root  ? 

In  1868,  Luther  W.  Guiteau,  with  perhaps  a 
dim  perception  of  the  fact  that  he  had  not  been 
all  that  a  father  should  be,  even  to  a  "  devel's 
seed,"  wn-ote  Charles  a  letter,  from  w^hich  I  take 
the  liberty  to  make  the  following  extract,  as 
throwing  some  light  upon  Guiteau's  boyhood :  — 

"  Soon  after  your  mother's  death,  our  family  be- 
came somewhat  scattered.  I  was  much  away  from 
home,  and  gradually,  for  the  want  of  fidelity  on  my 
part,  you  became  more  and  more  insubordinate,  for 
the  w^ant  of  proper  discipline  and  restraint,  until  I 
lost  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  control  of  you,  which  I 
had  the  riMit,  and  ouoht  to  have  exercised  as  your 


TWO  HARD  CASES.  81 

father.  Indeed,  my  discipline  was  absolutely  loose, 
and  you  were  not  brought  up  in  the  spirit  of  obedi- 
ence, but  have  had  your  own  way,  for  the  most 
part,  since  you  were  eight  or  ten  years  of  age. 
For  instance,  when  you  took  it  into  your  head  that 
you  wanted  to  go  to  Davenport,  instead  of  having 
5^ou  stay  with  me  at  Freeport,  as  my  own  judgment 
dictated,  and  learning  a  trade,  and  getting  into 
some  useful  employment  here  at  home,  where  I 
could  look  after  you,  I  consented  to  your  going 
there  ;  and  then  when  you  v/anted  things  that 
your  earnings  or  the  money  I  furnished  you  did 
not  warrant,  you  were  tempted,  and  did  do  things 
that  since  you  have  had  reason  greatly  to  regret, 
and  have  acknowledged  yourself  as  having  been 
guilty  of  things  that  were  criminal  according  to 
human  as  well  as  divine  law." 

Whatever  it  might  have  accomplished  earlier,  in 
1868  it  was  too  late  for  discipline,  and  entreaty 
proved  unavailing.  But  was  it  the  father's  neg- 
lect ?  Or  did  it  happen  to  Julia  Katherine  to  in- 
herit consumption,  to  Luther  Theodore  to  be  born 
with  a  crooked  limb,  and  to  Charles  Julius  to  come 
into  the  world  with  a  crooked  mind  ?  And  the  old- 
time  question  recurs,  "  Who  did  sin,  this  man  or  his 
IDarents,  that  he  was  born  blind  ?  "  But  whether 
due  to  taint  of  blood  or  vicious  training,  the  known 
facts  indicate  that  he  was  mentally  wrong  or  wicked, 
6 


82  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

probably  both,  in  early  life.  He  may  have  had  a 
genuine  longing  for  an  education,  that  led  him  to 
Ann  Arbor  ;  it  may  have  been  the  old  restless  de- 
sire for  change. 

The  new  departure,  a  few  months  later,  that  re- 
sulted in  his  abandoning  a  secular  education  for 
the  spiritual  development  and  socialistic  training  of 
the  Oneida  Community,  was  the  most  remarkable 
change  in  his  whole  life,  and  deserves  to  be  care- 
fully studied  for  the  light  that  it  throws  on  his 
character,  and  the  indication  which  it  affords  of  his 
real  mental  condition. 

What  are  the  facts  ?  In  the  spring  of  1859,  as 
we  gather  from  a  letter  in  evidence,  written  by 
him  to  his  sister,  he  believed  his  father  would,  at 
the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office,  enter  the 
Oneida  Community.  .-Guiteau  himself  was  full  of 
the  idea  of  an  education,  as  he  egotistically  says, 
"  proposing  to  be  educated  physically,  intellectually, 
and  morally."  Where  to  go  to  school  was  the 
question,  and  how.  Evidently  he  had  then  no  de- 
sire to  go  with  his  father  to  Oneida.  He  says  he 
had  not  spoken  to  him  about  his  education,  fearing 
his  opposition. 

In  the  summer  he  makes  up  his  mind  for  the  op- 
tional course  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  but 
has  not  yet  ventured  to  approach  his  father  on  the 
subject.     September  5   he  writes  that  he  has  his 


TIVO  HARD   CASES.  83 

father's  consent.  In  his  testimony  he  says  it  was 
against  his  father's  wislies  ;  that  his  father's  great 
anxiety  was  to  save  his  soul  through  the  Oneida 
Community  ;  and  tliat  after  he  went  to  Ann  Arbor 
his  father  plied  him  with  the  Community  publica- 
tions and  foolscap  letters  of  his  own  on  the  same 
topic.  October  16,  in  a  letter,  from  Ann  Arbor  to 
Mr.  Scoville,  he  says  he  has  passed  examination 
in  certain  branches,  and  entered  the  preparatory 
school  ;  that  he  is  getting  on  well  witli  his  studies 
thus  far,  but  he  will  not  be  able  to  enter  the  Uni- 
versity that  winter,  as  he  had  expected,  on  account 
of  his  Latin.  He  states  that  he  had  entered  the 
classical  department,  the  very  thing  which  three 
months  before  he  had  decided  not  to  do.  Novem- 
ber 6  he  writes  to  his  sister  that,  enteiing  the  school 
some  five  weeks  behind  the  class,  he  had  been  study- 
ing all  he  could  to  catch  up  with  them,  and  that  he 
is  getting  along  very  well ;  then  follows  an  exhor- 
tation to  seek  salvation,  with  abundant  Scripture 
quotations  of  the  love  of  Christ,  and  a  confession 
tliat  he  is  drawn  towards  the  doctrines  of  John  H. 
Noyes  and  the  Oneida  Community. 

The  letter  of  the  16th  of  October  to  his  sister's 
husband  had  nothing  of  this,  while  this,  three  weeks 
later,  to  her  is  full  of  it.  In  those  three  weeks  he 
has  experienced  a  great  change.  Six  months  be- 
fore, thinking  his  father  would  go  with  his  family 


84  TWO  BARD   CASES. 

to  the  Community,  having  no  inclination  that  way 
himself,  he  decides  to  leave  home  and  get  an  educa- 
tion. Feeling  that  his  father  will  oppose  it,  he 
consults  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scoville,  hoping  for  their 
support.  In  September  he  gains  the  reluctant 
consent  of  his  father,  and  starts  out  on  his  long- 
cherished  scheme  ;  and  now,  in  November,  he  is 
ready  to  throw  up  everything  for  the  love  of  God, 
John  H.  Noyes,  and  his  father's  Oneida  Commu- 
nity. What  ails  him  ?  In  midwinter  Mrs.  Scoville 
has  woi-d  from  her  uncle  Maynard  that  "  she  had 
better  come  out  there  and  see  to  Julius,  for  he  was 
going  as  crazy  on  the  subject  of  religion  as  ever 
his  father  was."  Going  on,  she  says  she  "found  he 
had  quit  his  school  studies  entirely,"  and  was  giv- 
hif  his  whole  time  to  the  publications  of  John  H. 
Noyes.  Night  after  night  she  reasoned  with  him, 
to  persuade  him  to  resume  his  studies  and  relin- 
quish those  ideas.  She  told  him  it  would  be  the 
ruin  of  him  to  go  to  the  Community.  She  says, 
"  I  could  not  influence  him  a  particle.  At  last  I 
made  up  my  mind  he  was  crazy,  from  the  way  he 
acted  and  talked."  About  this  time  he  began  to 
correspond  with  parties  in  the  Community,  and, 
though  he  remained  in  Ann  Arbor,  nominally  at 
school,  till  the  close  of  the  term,  in  June,  18 GO,  he 
entered  the  Oneida  Community. 

In  a  certain  sense  here  had  been  what  is  called 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  85 

a  "  change  of  heart :  "  from  worhlly  pursuits  he  had 
turned  to  seek  the  Lord.  I  have  no  disposition  to 
underrate  it  as  a  conversion.  Thenceforward  the 
religious  element,  such  as  it  was,  became  prominent 
in  his  life  ;  it  is  there  to-day.  The  contradictions 
of  that  life  are  another  matter  ;  the  fact  that  there 
was  a  different  basis  of  thought  remains.  The 
change  was  marked.  Here  is  his  own  explana- 
tion of  it  in  1861.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Scoviile  he 
says,  — 

"  Previous  to  my  going  to  Ann  Arbor,  in  the  fall 
of  1859,  father  very  much  desired  me  to  come  to 
the  Community,  but  at  that  time  I  was  not  in  a 
condition  to  comply  with  his  request.  After  con- 
siderable conversation  with  him,  he  finally  gave  his 
assent  to  my  attending  school  in  Michigan,  if  I 
would  go  upon  my  own  responsihility  and  at  my 
own  expense.  Soon  after  arriving  at  Ann  Arbor, 
I  became  quite  homesick.  I  felt  miserable  and  des- 
titute as  1  had  never  felt  before.  I  soon  found  my 
heart  turned  towards  God  for  comfort  and  consola- 
tion, and  began  to  read  with  eagerness  tlie  '  Circu- 
lar '  and  '  Berean,'  and  other  publications  of  the 
Community,  together  with  the  Bible.  At  this 
point  I  reckon  the  commencement  of  my  religious 
experience,  —  the  time  when  my  heart  was  first 
turned  towards  God  in  an  earnest    and  confidinor 

o 

manner.     I  continued  to  read  earnestly  the  above- 


86  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

mentioned  works  during  my  sta};-  of  nine  months 
in  Michigan.  The  consequence  was  that  I  made 
great  improvement  in  every  particuLir.  I  obtained 
intellectual  food  for  the  mind,  and  spiritual  food 
for  the  soul.  I  was  very  much  blessed  in  my  ex- 
perience there.  In  January,  1860,  I  commenced 
correspondence  with  members  of  the  Conimunity, 
which  resulted  in  my  coming  here  at  the  close  of 
my  school  in  June.  Be  assured  that  I  did  not 
come  here  without  counting  the  cost  in  every  partic- 
ular. I  was  attracted  here  by  an  irresistible 
power,  which  I  was  not  at  liberty  to  disobey.  I  was 
intellectually  convinced,  and  positively  knew  from 
the  feelings  of  my  inmost  heart,  that  this  was  the 
beginning  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  ;  and 
with  this  conviction  and  feelings,  I  came  last  June 
with  the  fixed  intention  to.  remain  permanently, 
and  devote  my  intellectual  and  physical  facul- 
ties to  the  promotion  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth." 

AYe  can  call  this  conversion,  or  we  may  agree 
with  his  sister  and  uncle  Maynard.  who  saw  him 
at  the  time,  and  labored  with  him,  that  he  had  gone 
insane  on  the  subject.  But,  in  the  interest  of  the 
whole  truth,  we  should  also  consider  the  father's 
opinion,  who,  if  he  did  not  see,  was  in  frequent 
correspondence  with  him.  Some  years  after,  when 
Charles   had  left  Oneida,  and    was   threatening  a 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  87 

suit,  and  exposure  of  the  vile  practices  of  the  Com- 
munity, Luther  Guiteau,  being  appealed  to  by  its 
leaders  for  aid,  and  being  now  fully  convinced  that 
in  Charles  he  was  dealing  with  a  "  devil's  seed," 
whose  sacrilegious  hands  were  stretched  out  against 
what  he  believed  to  be  the  very  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant,—  Noyes'  kingdom  of  God  on  earth, —  he 
published  a  letter  in  the  '*  New  York  World,"  from 
v.diich  I  have  taken  the  following  extract  :  — 

"  After  a  few  months'  reading  and  studying  these 
publications  [those  of  the  Oneida  Community]  he 
professed  to  believe  their  teachings,  and  he  deter- 
mined to  visit  and  apply  for  admission  into  the 
Community,  without  consultation  with  his  father 
or  any  of  his  friends,  and,  indeed,  against  the  ad- 
vice of  his  father.  In  the  last  letter  his  father  wrote 
him,  doubts  were  expressed  as  to  the  propriety 
of  the  step,  and  he  was  advised  to  wait.  Once  in 
the  Community  as  a  probationer,  and  held  back 
from  (what  he  supposed,  though  mistakenly)  the 
privileges  of  the  Community  until  he  should  be- 
come of  age,  and  to  give  him  an  opportunity  to 
well  understand  them,  as  well  as  to  correct  some 
evil  and  destructive  habits  he  had  fallen  into  before 
going  there,  he  finally  forced  himself  upon  them 
(just  as  he  is  now  trying  to  force  himself  upon 
other  people)  ;  thinking,  no  doubt,  he  would  be  able 
to  realize  the  real  though  concealed,  object  he  had 


88  T]VO   BARD    CASES. 

in  view,  namely,  the  free  exercise  of  his  unbridled 
lust  for  women.  Of  my  own  knowledge,  I  can  say 
he  was  absolutely  kept  in  abeyance,  and  restrained 
from  outrageous  things,  by  the  faithfulness  of  tiie 
members  of  the  Community,  and  patiently  borne 
with,  in  hopes  he  would  ultimately  be  rescued  from 
that  lustful  spirit.  And  now  he  says,  forsooth,  that, 
being  once  under  their  magnetism,  he  was  induced 
to  believe  that  his  only  chance  of  salvation  was  to 
submit  to  their  rules.  The  truth  is.  he  never  came 
under  their  magnetism  or  rules,  only  by  way  of  re- 
straint, as  a  tiger  is  kept  from  doing  damage  by 
being  put  in  a  cage  or  in  chains." 

This  is  the  demon  view  of  his  conversion,  vigor- 
ously urged,  and,  allowing  for  the  circumstances  of 
the  writing  and  the  peculiarities  of  the  writer,  it 
should  be  received  for  wliat  it  is  worth.  If  the 
above  accurately  states  the  facts  in  the  case,  it  may 
well  be  doubted  if  Charles  could,  at  that  time,  have 
been  in  his  right  mind.  Young  as  he  was,  he  was 
no  novice  in  the  ways  of  the  world,  and  to  throw 
away  his  education  and  his  prospects  in  that  man- 
ner and  for  that  purpose  was  unnecessary.  If  he 
had  such  a  tiger  in  him  as  the  senior  Guiteau  fan- 
cied, there  were  less  expensive  methods  open  to  him 
of  purchasing  experience  and  repentance.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  he  had  inherited  a  mental  organiza- 
tion defective  and  peculiar  from  the  start,  that  could 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  89 

not  hold  his  passions  in  check ;  if  his  egotism  as  a 
boy,  second  only  to  that  of  his  manhood,  and  else 
unparalleled,  had  controlled  his  judgment ;  if  a 
consuming  restlessness  was  already  giving  him  no 
peace  or  stability  of  purpose,  we  can  understand 
how  this  new  departure  for  the  Oneida  Community 
might  have  been  the  outgrowth  of  all  of  these 
things ;  that  it  Avas  the  resultant  of  his  lust,  of  his 
change  of  heart,  of  his  insanity.  Perhaps  it  was 
as  much  of  a  "  conversion  "  as  it  was  possible  for 
such  a  mind  to  experience ;  a  religious  fervor  that 
burned  in  the  Huguenot  had  kindled  into  a  scorch- 
ing fii'e  in  his  brain,  of  which  the  embers  are  glow- 
ing to-day-  •  Do  you  say  this  view  is  disproved  by 
the  hypocrisy  of  his  later  years  ?  I  answer  that 
the  unsound  mind  is  a  paradox.'  You  may  often 
recognize  the  insane  by  the  contradiction  in  their 
lives.  I  remember  a  venerable  old  clergyman,  who 
has,  I  hope,  been  for  j'ears  in  Paradise,  who,  in 
his  round  of  the  ward,  on  coming  upon  a  group  at 
cards,  would,  with  uplifted  hands,  as  if  in  prayer, 
break  out  into  the  most  fearful  oaths  at  the  w'retches 
who  were  sinning  by  indulging  in  the  game.  Did 
I  call  him  a  hypocrite  because  he  mingled  prayers 
and  curses?  I  said  only  that  he  was  insane;  the 
idea  of  hypocrisy  did  not  come  into  my  mind,  for 
I  realized  that  it  was  only  the  demon  that  had  en- 
tered into  his  disordered  brain  that  swore,  and  that 


90  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

his  soul,  long  safe  from  profane  defilement,  was 
waiting  for  Abraham's  bosom.  But  because  this 
saint  was  insane,  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  infer 
that  the  insane  are  all  saints.  There  is  no  incom- 
patibility between  wickedness  and  insanity,  though 
this  fact  is  often  overlooked,  and,  at  this  trial  which 
we  are  outlining,  having  found  Guiteau  a  knave, 
nobody  seems  to  have  considered  that  it  was  pos- 
sible he  might  still  be  a  fool. 

His  residence  in  the  Oneida  Community  has  left 
but  little  record  that  has  come  into  our  hands, 
and  so  of  these  six  years  of  the  impressible  period 
of  his  life,  the  very  time  when  we  should  desire 
to  know  most  about  him,  we  must  content  our- 
selves with  a  very  fragmentary  history.  Cover- 
ing that  portion  of  his  life,  from  June,  1860,  to 
November,  1866,  the  date  of  his  final  departure 
from  the  Community,  we  have  the  criminal's  own 
statement,  the  testimonj^  of  three  witnesses  who 
saw  him  while  there,  and  a  few  letters  written  by 
himself  and  otiiers.  We  have  seen  in  what  fresh 
zeal  he  went  there,  and  through  wliat  limitations  of 
birth  and  education  he  had  come,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen,  to  that  light  which,  in  his  testimony,  he 
styles  "  becoming  religious,"  —  "that  Light  which 
lighteth  every  man  who  cometh  into  the  world." 
How  had  that  light  shone  for  him,  cloistered  from 
the  world  in    that  great  nursery  of  shame,  whose 


TWO   HARD  CASES.  91 

spiritual  despotism  was  absolute,  whose  social  life 
was  slavery,  whose  gospel  was  lust?  They  rued 
the  reaping  who  sowed  dragon's  teeth,  but  what 
harvest  shall  he  gather  who  plants  "  devil's  seed " 
in  such  a  soil  ? 

At  the  jail,  before  his  trial,  in  conversing  with 
me  of  this  Oneida  life,  he  manifested  greater  ex- 
citement and  more  intense  feeling  than  on  any 
other  topic.  He  said  "  he  came  out  with  his  life 
blasted,"  and  it  was  said  with  all  the  bitterness  with 
which  I  often  hear  unrecovered  insane  men  allude 
to  their  confinement  in  a  hospital.  A  similar  vio- 
lence of  manner  and  language  on  this  subject  was 
noticeable  during  the  trial.  What  did  he  do,  how 
did  he  act  there  ?  Whether  they  believed  him 
sane  or  insane,  they  were  evidently  puzzled  by 
him.  Jocelyn,  business  manager  of  the  Commu- 
nity, whose  acquaintance  covers  most  of  the  time 
he  was  there,  says  he  was  about  as  egotistic  a  man 
as  he  ever  knew ;  differed  from  other  men  in  being 
so  absorbed  in  himself  and  having  such  a  high  idea 
of  himself,  with  very  moderate  and  perhaps  inferior 
abilities,  as  to  think  he  was  a  superior  being,  quali- 
fied to  be  a  leader  and  a  manager  generally.  He 
believed  him  in  earnest  in  these  convictions  about 
himself.  Hubbard,  a  farmer  working  at  the  Com- 
munity, but  not  a  member,  says  he  knew  him  for 
three  years,  seeing  him  almost  daily,  working  with 


92  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

him  in  the  trap  shop.  "  Orduiarily  he  did  his  work 
very  well,  except  when  he  would  get  mixed  up  in 
liis  packing.  He  would,  in  packing  traps,,  pack 
those  with  chains  with  those  witliout  chains.  He 
was  a  very  nervous,  quick-tempered,  quick  man. 
If  anything  was  said  to  him  that  would  rile  him,  he 
would  gesticulate  wildly,  and  talk  in  a  mysterious, 
understanding  manner.  Had  also  noticed  that  he 
would  sit  for  hours  in  a  corner,  saying  nothing  to 
anybody,  and  you  could  not  get  an  answer  from 
him.  At  other  times  he  would  be  cheerful,  and 
would  talk  to  the  boys  on  any  subject."  Mrs.  Sco- 
ville,  who  visited  him  once  at  Oneida,  some  years 
after  he  entered  the  Community,  says  she  could  see 
him  only  in  the  presence  of  others.  She  tried  to 
converse  with  him,  but  all  the  answer  she  could  get 
was  now  and  then  a  monosyllable.  "  He  seemed 
to  her  like  a  person  that  had  been  bewildered,  or 
struck  on  the  head,  or  had  partially  lost  his  mind. 
Could  not  get  any  satisfaction,  or  find  out  whether 
he  wanted  to  stay  or  go  away  with  us."  Such 
dazed,  moody  condition,  sitting  apart  and  silent  for 
hours,  is  a  familiar  picture  to  those  who  live  among 
the  insane  ;  alternating  with  periods  of  excitement, 
it  is  common  in  those  cases  of  mental  impairment 
which  are  accompanied  by  secret  vice,  and  depend 
upon  heredity,  both  of  which  conditions  are  found  . 
in  Guiteau.     This  moody  state,  thus  developed,  isf 


TWO   HARD  CASES.  93 

not  incompatible,  nay,  is  often  associated,  with  a  re- 
ligious fervor,  which,  however,  is  not  piet}",  though 
sometimes  mistaken  for  it  by  very  good  people. 

Of  Guiteau's  religious  ideas  and  spiritual  aspira- 
tions, or  of  his  expression  of  them,  we  have  in 
evidence  several  long  disquisitions,  written  during 
this  period,  which  are  of  importance  as  showing 
at  least  what  he  claimed,  if  not  what  he  believed. 
Some  of  the  ideas  expressed  are  fanatical  and 
strange,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  he  lived 
in  a  community  full  of  these  fanatical  notions,  and 
it  was  no  evidence  of  insanity  in  them  that  they 
believed  such  things  ;  but,  as  I  have  said  before  in 
these  pages,  it  is  not  so  much  what  a  man  believes 
that  makes  the  test  of  his  sanity  or  insanity  as 
how  he  believes  it.  The  question  here  is  of  the 
probable  effect  of  such  beliefs  on  such  a  mind. 
This  most  egotistical  of  men,  writing  from  Oneida, 
February  24,  1861,  to  Mr.  Scoville,  says,  ailiong 
other  things,  "  I  was  attracted  here  by  an  irresist- 
ible power,  which  I  was  not  at  lihei^ty  to  disoheyy 
"  I  have  forsaken  everything  for  Christ,  —  reputa- 
tion, honor  of  men,  riches,  fame,  and  worldly  re- 
nown. All  hankering  after  the  things  of  this  world 
have  ceased,  as  I  trust,  forever."  "  AYe  believe  that 
this  association  is  the  germ  of  the  kingdom  of 
God."  "  We  expect  without  wavering  the  steady, 
irresistible  advance  of  this  association  to  the  con- 


94  TIVO  HARD    CASES. 

quest  of  the  whole  world."  In  a  letter  to  Mrs. 
Scoville,  dated  August  9,  1861,  this  occurs  :  "  I  will 
say  for  myself  that  my  eternal  marriage  to  Jesus 
Christ  and  his  people  in  this  world,  Hades,  and  the 
resurrection  world  is  preeminently  paramount  to  all 
attraction,  of  whatsoever  kind  or  nature."  Such 
ecstatic  beliefs  are  in  keeping  with  the  egotistic 
vanity  of  the  man,  and  not  inconsistent  with  the 
idea  of  insanity,  but  they  do  not  prove  it.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  he  considered  himself  qualified  to 
be  a  leader  in  the  Community,  and  that  he  pre- 
ferred to  do  the  thinking  rather  than  the  working 
part  of  the  business.  It  is  clear  that  he  never 
heartily  accepted  their  views  on  the  "  labor  ques- 
tion," so  far  as  it  regarded  himself.  He  never 
seemed  to  have  taken  kindly  to  manual  labor  any- 
where. 

It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  he  got  on  very 
smoothly  in  the  Community  at  any  time ;  what 
with  his  aversion  to  labor,  his  disposition  to  sulk 
by  himself,  his  offensive  conceit,  aspiring  to  be  a 
leader,  but  with  no  real  ability,  his  quarrels  with 
the  management,  and  his  iucapacity  to  make  friends, 
he  must  have  been  an  uncomfortable  brother  to 
live  with.  With  his  known  restlessness,  the  wonder 
is,  not  that  he  left  the  Community  at  the  end  of 
five  years,  but  that  he  remained  half  that  time; 
there  is  no  other  period  of  his  life  that  begins  to 


TWO   HARD    CASES.  9-5 

compare  with  it  for  stability  of  purpose.  This  is 
best  accounted  for  on  the  ground  that  he  believed 
what  he  said  he  did ;  that  he  went  there  to  save 
his  soul ;  and  that  he  then  honestly  believed,  was 
at  least  "  intellectually  convinced,  that  the  Oneida 
Community  was  the  beginning  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  on  earth."  Why  should  he  not  intellectually 
believe  it?  It  had  been  taught  him  from  his  in- 
fancy. Further  on,  in  April,  1865,  when  on  the 
eve  of  starting  out  to  illuminate  the  world  w^ith 
the  "  Theocrat,"  as  he  says,  "  to  give  Jesus  Christ 
a  daily  paper,"  while  he  speaks  of  having  "  lun 
through  a  most  crucifying  experience"  in  the  Com- 
munity, he  still  writes,  ''  I  hioiv  in  my  heart  that  I 
am  one  with  Christ  and  Paul  and  ^Ir.  Xoyes  for- 
ever and  ever  ;  that  no  power  in  the  universe  can 
sunder  us." 

Then,  after  he  had  been  led  by  that  vision  of 
the  "  Theocrat"  into  New  York  city,  —  a  dream 
that  seemed  sane  enough  to  his  dazed  brain  in  the 
cloister,  but  that  could  not  bear  the  light  of  day,  — 
and  had  talked  with  practical  printers  and  newspa- 
per men,  and  some  wretched  worldling  had  told 
him  that  the  very  name  "  Theocrat "  was  enough 
to  damn  it  from  the  start,  and  he  had  still  sense 
enough  left  to  see  that  that  was  so,  and  the  vision 
faded,  —  then,  why  did  he  go  back  ?  There  is  noth- 
ing but  religious  belief  that  will  explain  it.    He  had 


96  TIVO   HARD    CASES. 

settled  with  Mr.  Noyes  ;  he  had  tlie  money  to  sup- 
port himself  in  New  York  the  same  as  when  he 
went  there  a  year  later  ;  the  firm  in  whose  employ 
he  claimed  to  be  had  not  dissolved ;  only  the  vision 
of  the  "Theocrat"  was  withdrawn.  Ah!  he  still 
believed  there  was  no  salvation  outside  the  fel- 
lowship of  the  Community.  He  writes  from  Ho- 
boken,  under  date  of  July  6,  18G5,  asking  to  be 
taken  back,  and  he  begin>5  his  letter,  "  Dear  friends, 
though  in  the  world,  yet  I  am  not  of  the  world,  for 
the  friendship  of  the  world  is  enmity  with  God." 
He  humbles  himself,  lays  aside  his  boasting,  says 
he  sees  that  "  the  most  effective  way  of  preaching 
the  gospel  is  by  the  exhibition  of  a  good  life."  He 
recants  in  regard  to  his  heavenly  vision  that  he 
had  a  great  mission  to  perform  ;  says  he  is  now 
"  satisfied  that  it  was  a  devilish  delusion  that  tor- 
mented me."  And  so  he  goes  back,  like  the  prod- 
igal, to  a  welcome  more  or  less  cordial.  But  the 
spell  was  broken  ;  the  peace  he  had  hoped  to  find 
was  not  there.  He  comes  to  hate  Noyes  and  his 
slavery,  to  disbelieve  or  to  harden  his  heart  against 
his  teachings.  Then  the  demon  of  unrest  drives  him 
forth  again,  and  in  November,  18G6,  he  leaves  the 
Oneida  Community  forever. 

The  leaders  of  that  organization  were  in  a  posi- 
tion to  know  pretty  well  about  this  man,  and  it 
would  be  interesting  to  learn  whether  they  consid- 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  97 

ered  him  insane  or  not  at  that  time.  True,  they 
were  not  experts,  and  their  rather  trying  experi- 
ence with  him  then,  and  especially  later,  would  nat- 
urally incline  them  to  the  belief  that  his  inspiration 
was  a  "devilish  delusion,"  but  living  with  him  for 
six  years,  and  seeing  his  actions  and  his  ways,  they 
ought  to  have  some  idea  if  he  was  crazy,  or  ugly, 
in  the  American  sense  of  that  word,  or  both. 
Charles  S.  Jocelyn,  one  of  the  business  managers 
of  the  Community,  who  testified  to  having  known 
Guiteau  at  Oneida  certainly  for  four  and  possibly 
five  years,  described  his  mental  peculiarities,  but 
neither  the  counsel  for  the  prosecution  nor  the  de- 
fense ventured  to  ask  if  he  thought  him  insane.  It 
would  have  been  interesting  to  the  by-standers,  pos- 
sibly to  the  jury,  to  have  heard  from  him  on  that 
subject,  but  we  cannot  presume  too  far  on  the  legal 
fiction  of  "  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing 
but  the  truth  ;"  it  really  means  just  so  much  truth 
as  the  lawyer  may  need  for  his  particular  side  of 
the  case.  Of  course  as  the  defense  called  him,  and 
did  not  ask  the  question,  the  presumption  would  be 
that  his  answer  would  not  help  their  case.  That 
presumption  was  all  the  prosecution  needed,  and 
Mr.  Davidge,  quick  to  perceive  it,  said,  "  We  do 
not  want  to  ask  anything,  —  not  a  word,"  and 
hurried  him  from  tlie  stand. 

Last  autumn  a  letter  from  J.  H.  Noyes  to  Mr. 


98  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

Scoville,  appeared  in  the  "  Niagara  Falls  Gazette," 
which,  though  I  do  not  know  to  be  authentic,  I 
presume  is  so  ;  and  as  the  o[)inion  of  J.  H.  Noyes, 
if  honestly  stated,  would  be  entitled  to  great  weight, 
as  he  was  for  six  years  in  a  position  to  know  the 
facts,  I  insert  that  letter  here  :  — 

Niagara  Falls,  Oxt.,  October  20,  1881. 
G.  W.  Scoville  : 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  see  in  the  papers  that  you  have 
named  me  as  a  witness,  by  whom  you  intend  to 
prove  Guiteau's  insanity. 

Perhaps  it  will  save  you  trouble  and  expense,  if 
I  inform  you  in  advance  tliat  I  do  not  believe  in 
his  insanity,  and  that  I  recollect  no  act  or  symjDtora 
of  insanity  in  his  life,  while  under  my  observation. 
Probably,  I  have  more  reason  than  any  other  man, 
to  know  and  detest  his  wickedness  ;  but  that  is 
not  insanity,  in  any  legal  sense.  I  think  that  he 
was  born  with  a  special  genius  for  mischief,  and 
has  had  a  real  inspiration  for  it  all  his  days ;  but 
that  is  not  saying  he  is  insane,  unless  we  also  call 
natural  genius  and  inspiration  for  good  things,  such 
as  inventions,  music,  etc.,  insanity.  I  understand 
insanity  to  be  unsoundness,  disease,  of  the  brain  ; 
and  I  do  not  think  that  Guiteau  has  that  any  more 
than  bears  and  lions  have  it.  I  agree  with  the  old 
hymn    that   such  beasts  growl  and   fight  because 

'■  It  is  their  nature  to." 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  99 

With  these  views  and  the  memory  of  my  sore 
experience  with  your  client,  I  am  afraid  I  should 
have  to  testify  strongly  against  your  main  plea,  and 
perhaps  should  be  the  means  of  sending  him  to  the 
gallows,  which  I  should  sincerely  regret  on  many 
accounts,  and  especially  because  his  father  was  a 
dear  friend  to  me  and  mine.  But  I  must  notify 
you  that  my  regret  would  be  mostly  for  my  j^er- 
sonal  agency  in  the  tragedy. 

Yours  respectfully,  J.  H.  Xoyes. 

This  letter,  published  as  an  open  one  by  J.  H. 
Noyes.  had  the  desired  effect,  and  he  was  not  sum- 
moned ;  bat  for  the  sake  of  the  whole  truth,  he 
should  now  be  called.  And  from  J.  H.  Noyes 
finding  it  convenient  to  reside  in  Canada,  in  view 
of  the  sentiment  of  western  New  York,  and  writ- 
ing for  the  press  in  the  interest  of  the  pojDular  in- 
dignation against  Guiteau  in  1881,  I  appeal  to  J. 
H.  Noyes,  writing  to  Luther  W.  Guiteau,  in  1868, 
while  smarting  under  the  abusive  letters  of  Charles, 
and  fresh  from  his  experiences  with  him  in  the 
Community,  that  would  naturally  lead  him  to  re- 
gard him  as  wicked  rather  than  crazy,  but  when 
there  was  no  public  sentiment,  demanding  that  he 
should  be  pronounced  sane.  I  am  2>ermitted  to  in- 
sert the  f  olio  win  o-  letter  :  — 


100  T[VO   HARD   CASES. 

"Wallingforp,  February  8,  1868. 

Dear  Brother  Guiteau,  —  Your  letter  makes 
all  right  between  us,  and  I  thank  God  with  you 
for  new  love  and  confidence,  where  the  devil  would 
have  been  glad  to  make  a  breach. 

I  hear  nothing  more  from  the  tlireatened  suit, 
and  my  impression,  like  yours,  is  that  Dean  has 
abandoned  it.  I  have  reason  to  believe,  however, 
that  Charles  is  doing  his  best  to  stir  up  hostility 
against  us  in  the  newspaper  world,  but  with  poor 
success. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  least  thing  you  can  do 
at  this  time  is  to  write  him  a  kind,  fatherly  letter  ; 
setting  before  him  the  folly  of  his  course,  and 
opening  to  him  the  door  of  repentance  and  return. 
I  regard  him  as  insane,  and  I  prayed  for  him  last 
night  as  sincerely  as  I  ever  prayed  for  my  own  son, 
that  is  now  in  a  lunatic  asylum.  I  do  not  wish 
you  to  say  these  things  from  me  ;  but  if  you  feel  as 
I  do  about  him,  you  can  show  him,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  he  can  gain  nothing  by  war  but  disgrace, 
because  we  are  used  to  exposure,  and  live  in  spite 
of  it,  but  the  exposure  which  he  will  bring  on  him- 
self, if  he  jDcrsists  in  making  enemies  of  us,  will 
ruin  him  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  there  is 
nothing  to  hinder  his  recovering  your  friendship 
and  ours,  and  getting  help  to  escape  from  his  sins 
and  the  disgrace  of  them.     He  must  be  leading  a 


TWO   HARD   CASES.  101 

miserable  life,  trying  to  get  his  anonymous  circulars 
noticed,  haunting  newspaper  offices  and  studying 
mischief.  He  cannot  get  a  living,  temporal  or 
spiritual,  by  such  things,  and  he  is  not  likely  to 
make  friends  that  will  stand  by  him,  even  among 
our  enemies,  for  they  are  all  too  selfish  to  help  one 
another  eifectually.  I  conjecture  that  Dean  has 
deserted  him.  I  do  not  believe  that  he  has  found 
or  will  find  any  friends  tliat  will  be  half  so  faithful 
to  him  as  you  and  I  would  be  glad  to  be. 

It  can  do  no  harm  to  try  the  course  of  entreaty 
and  mercy  ;  only  don't  let  your  heart  go  out  so  far 
as  to  get  wounded  if  the  experiment  fails. 

Yours  very  truly,  J.  H.  Noyes. 

"  I  do  not  believe  in  his  insanity,"  and  "  I  regard 
him  as  insane;"  you  have  the  two  statements,  and 
the  circumstances  under  wdiich  they  were  given,  as 
well  as  the  reputation  of  the  witness.  Which  will 
you  believe  ? 

Other  letters  have  couie  under  my  observation, 
written  by  leaders  of  that  Community,  at  the  time 
of  his  departure  for  New  York,  and  later,  when  he 
was  threatening  suit  and  exposure  ;  also  copies  of 
his  own  letters,  assailing  those  leaders,  — letters  that 
are  villainous  enough  ;  but  it  would  swell  this  paper 
far  beyond  its  proper  limits  to  reproduce  them 
here.     Nor  is  it  necessary ;  they  cover  very  much 


102  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

the  same  ground  as  the  one  of  J.  II.  Noyes,  already 
given.  It  is  clear  that  the  Oneida  people  were 
somewhat  afraid  of  his  exposures,  and  thankful  to 
be  rid  of  him.  They  agree  that  he  was  wicked  and 
ugly,  and  that  something  was  the  matter  with  his 
mind  ;  that  he  was  insane,  or,  at  least,  partially  so  : 
but,  so  far  as  I  know,  none  of  these  parties  have 
made  haste  to  deny  in  print  what  they  believed 
then,  and  letters  designed  only  for  private^pei'usal 
should  not  be  made  public  unless  the  vindication  of 
the  trutli  renders  such  publicity  necessary. 

So,  then,  going  to  reside  in  New  York  city,  he 
leaves  the  Oneida  Community,  with  the  lessons  of 
its  social  life  superadded  to  his  former  experience. 
As  he  had  no  virtue  to  boast  of  before,  we  shall  not 
look  to  find  him  growing  better  as  the  years  go  on ; 
Ills  egotism  has  become  gigantic,  his  insane  inspira- 
tion does  not  lift  him  out  of  evil  courses,  and  the 
mantle  of  a  partial  derangement  but  barely  covers 
the  excesses  of  his  life. 

If,  as  seems  most  probable,  in  view  of  all  the  facts 
attainable,  Guiteau's  religious  experiences  at  Ann 
Arbor  and  Oneida  were  an  outgrowth  of  insanity, 
and  were,  as  Dr.  Rice  has  happily  styled  them  in 
his  testimony,  the  manifestations  of  a  "  pseudo-re- 
ligious feeling,"  and  not  the  inward  development 
of  a  healthy,  vital  piety,  then  much  in  his  life  tliat 
is  else  a  riddle  becomes  plain.    Admitting  an  ele- 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  103 

ment  of  insanity  there,  sometimes  dormant,  but  al- 
ways present,  we  can  understand  how  one  day  there 
miflfht  be  manifestations  of  most  extravagant  relio-- 
ious  feeling,  and  the  next  developments  of  a  spirit  >p— 
almost  Satanic  ;  nay,  that  both  might  happen  in  the 
same  day.  And  to  explain  this  it  would  not  be  nec- 
essary to  evoke  "  moral  insanity  "  from  the  limbo 
to  which  tlie  lawyers  have  properly  relegated  it; 
nor  would  it  be  wise,  because  it  claims  "  inspira- 
tion," to  call  that  "  religious  mania  "  which  is  sim- 
ply mental  unsoundness,  whose  manifestation  for 
tlie  time  happens  to  be  a  pious  exhortation. 

Most  of  the  mistakes  and  misunderstandings  in 
the  discussions  of  insanity  result  from  our  artificial 
nomenclature  of  mental  diseases.  If  a  man  is  in- 
sane, saying  all  manner  of  words  of  Greek  deriva- 
tion over  him  does  not  exorcise  the  demon,  nor  does 
this  assist  either  the  scientific  man  or  the  common 
people  to  a  better  understanding  of  his  disorder. 
They  err  who  make  haste  to  classify  everything. 
Mania,  melancholia,  dementia,  —  they  are  but  the 
convenient  pigeon-holes  in  which  you  file  away 
your  cases  of  one  and  the  same  disease  ;  and  after 
you  have  laid  them  aside,  sometimes  when  you  go 
to  look  for  them  you  find  they  have  changed  places. 
It  is  enough  to  have  satisfactorily  established  the 
unsoundness  of  a  mind  without  being  curious  to 
label  it. 


104  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

Guiteau  had  taken  eight  liundred  dollars  into  the 
Community  when  he  went  there,  and  such  portion 
of  this  as  had  not  already  been  expended  on  the 
Theocratic  project  he  received  soon  after  his  final 
separation  from  them.  He  retired  to  New  York 
city,  and  seems  to  have  remained  in  an  aimless  idle- 
ness while  his  money  lasted ;  at  least  I  cannot  as- 
certain that  lie  did  anything.  He  joined  Beecher's 
church  and  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
and  then  appears  to  have  lounged  about  their  rooms 
and  the  libraries.  In  his  testimony  he  says  that 
he  "  used  to  wander  up  and  down  the  streets  of 
New  York,  and  try  to  shake  off  the  Community  in- 
fluence." "  I  had  all  I  could  possibly  do  to  prevent 
myself  from  going  back,  because  I  had  the  idea  in 
my  mind  that  I  would  lose  my  eternal  sahation. 
The  idea  that  I  was  to  be  eternally  damned  haunted 
me  and  haunted  me." 

In  the  spring  his  father  visited  him.  About  this 
time  he  went  out  to  Harlem  to  board.  May  20, 
1867,  he  writes  his  sister  that  he  thinks,  in  the 
absence  of  anything  better,  he  shall  study  law  in 
the  summer,  and  adds,  in  his  characteristic  style, 
"  I  have  studied  tJieology  considerably,  and  hope 
I  have  my  religious  principles  established,  so  that 
I  may  now  study  law  with  profit,  whether  I  ever 
practice  it  or  not."  He  also  says  he  has  decided 
not  to  go  AVest  this  summer,  but  thinks  of  remain- 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  105 

ing  where  he  is  for  the  present.  But  he  is  vacillat- 
ing as  ever.  Tliis  is  the  latter  part  of  May,  aud 
in  Jnly  he  goes  up  to  New  Haven,  and  in  August 
he  arrives  at  Mr.  Scoville's  office,  in  Chicago,  and 
is  considering  the  propriety  of  reading  law  there. 
October  11,  being,  as  he  says,  w^ithin  thirty  dollars 
of  the  end  of  his  money,  he  writes  his  father  that 
he  is  doing  well  in  his  legal  studies  (with  ]Mr. 
Scoville),  and  hopes  to  be  admitted  by  the  first  of 
the  next  May.  Just  one  month  later,  November 
11,  the  law  seems  to  have  been  laid  aside,  and  he 
writes  his  father  that  he  is  thinkinof  of  returuino-  to 
New  York,  and  says,  "  I  never  contemplated  set- 
tling down  as  a  practicing  lawyer.  My  object  w^as 
simply  to  become  acquainted  with  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  science."  Three  days  later  he 
writes,  "I  am  all  ready  to  go  East,  minus  a  hundred 
dollars,"  and  adds,  "  I  am  quite  certain  I  si i all  get 
a  situation  on  the  '  Independent.'  "  This  is  the  old 
restlessness  and  the  former  vision  of  "a  work  to 
do  "  in  newspaper  editing,  but  Somewhat  modified. 
Now  it  is  only  a  place  on  the  editorial  staff  of  the 
"  New  York  Independent ;  "  then  it  was  a  call  to 
"  give  Jesus  Christ  a  daily  pap&r,"  precisely  as,  some 
years  later,  the  Austrian  mission  is  exchanged  for 
the  Paris  consulate.  Of  course  nothing  came  of 
the  "  Independent "  editorship,  but,  nevertheless, 
the  new  year,  1868,  finds  him  back  in  New  York, 


106-  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

and  being  straitened  for  money  (see  letter  to  Mr. 
Scoville  January  26,  1868)  he  endeavors,  by  threat- 
ening letters  and  a  sensation  appeal  to  the  public, 
which  he  prints  and  sends  to  the  leading  papers  of 
the  city,  to  frighten  the  heads  of  the  Oneida  Com- 
niunity  into  paying  him  money,  and  so  prevent  his 
suit  and  the  exposure  of  their  iniquities,  which  he 
had  been  holding  over  them  for  some  time.  To 
this  J.  H.  Noyes  refers  in  his  letter  of  February, 
1868,  to  Luther  W.  Guiteau. 

He  seems  for  a  time  to  have  followed  up  his  as- 
sault with  all  the  venom  of  his  nature.  Do  we  need 
any  better  evidence  of  the  depravity  of  the  man  ? 
If  we  do,  be  sure  we  shall  find  it  in  the  slums  of 
his  New  York  residence,  some  years  later,  with  its 
doubtful  criminal  practice  and  his  wretched  married 
life,  parading  the  open  adultery  of  its  divorce  ;  but 
more  of  (his  anon.  Tlie  scheme  to  extort  money, 
by  threats,  from  tlie  Community  fails,  and  in  the 
spring,  1868,  we  find  the  man,  who  had  written  his 
father  only  the  last  November  that  his  object  in 
reading  law  with  Mr.  Scoville  was  "  simply  to  be- 
come acquainted  with  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  science,"  back  in  Chicago,  hard  at  the  "  fun- 
damental principles"  again,  in  the  law  office  of 
General  Reynolds.  Why  with  General  Reynolds 
instead  of  Mr.  Scoville?  Probably  some  trouble 
with  the  latter  is  the  cause,  as  his  father,  in  a  letter 


TWO  HARD  CASES.  107 

written  early  in  1873,  speaks  of  "his  abominable 
and  deceitful  dealings  with  George  Scofield,"  Gen- 
eral Reynolds,  who  seems  to  have  noticed  him  as 
a  student,  says  "his  reading  was  generally  that  of 
fundamental  or  elementary  law."  Someliow  he 
was  admitted  to  the  Chicago  Bar  in  August,  1868. 
Authorities,  while  differing  as  to  the  exact  facts, 
agree  that  the  examination  for  admission  was  not 
exhaustive  in  his  case ;  Guiteau  puts  it  as  high  as 
three  or  four  questions  that  were  asked  him,  only 
one  of  which  he  failed  to  answer.  It  is  in  evidence 
that  he  was  elated  by  his  success,  and  told  his  sister 
that  ""now  he  would  have  plenty  of  money,  and  that 
they  need  not  worry  any  more  about  him." 

Leaving  General  Reynolds,  he  opened  an  office 
for  the  practice  of  law  in  Chicago.  What  that  prac- 
tice amounted  to  is  not  so  clear.  It  appears  to  have 
been  a  period  of  comparative  quiescence  with  him, 
and  in  July,  1869,  he  finds  time  to  marry,  rather 
suddenly  according  to  his  account.  Judge  Porter, 
in  his  cross-examination  of  Guiteau,  made  it  evi- 
dent that,  whatever  office  or  legal  work  he  may 
have  done  during  the  three  years  that  he  remained 
in  Chicago,  he  had  very  few,  if  any,  cases  in  court. 
If  he  ever  had  any,  his  mind  at  the  time  of  the 
trial  was,  to  use  a  favorite  expression  of  his,  "  a 
perfect  blank  on  that  subject."  Charles  H.  Reed 
alone  seems  to  have  retained  any  recollection  of 


108  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

him  as  an  advocate  in  court.  He  first  remembers 
him  when  he  (Reed)  was  state  district  attorney, 
and  Guiteau  appeared  as  counsel  in  a  criminal 
case,  an  aflfiiir  of  petit  larceny,  so  plain  that  he 
thought  it  required  no  argument,  and  wished  the 
court  to  limit  Guiteau  in  his  time ;  but  Guiteau  in- 
sisted on  his  right  to  speak,  and  went  on  for  per- 
haps three  quarters  of  an  hour  with  "  a  rambling 
speech,  in  which  he  talked  about  theology,  the  Di- 
vinity, the  rights  of  man,"  etc.,  etc.  Guiteau  denied 
all  this,  but  it  wuas  observable  throughout  the  trial 
that  he  was  sensitive  and  quick  to  resent  every 
point  in  the  testimony  that  indicated  that  he  was 
an^'thing  but  a  smart  man,  saying  "  he  preferred 
to  be  hung  as  a  man  rather  than  be  acquitted  as  a 
fool."  It  is  not  difficult  to  believe  that  he  made 
such  a  defense  of  his  client,  and  we  can  well  under- 
stand how,  on  his  cross-examination,  he  was  unable 
to  recall  with  any  degree  of  certainty  a  single  case 
that  he  had  carried  through  to  a  successful  issue, 
and  that,  whatever  undismissed  cases  he  may  have 
had  on  the  docket,  they  were  all,  as  Judge  Porter 
sententiously  suggested  in  his  examination,  finally 
"  merited  in  the  Chicafi^o  fire."  lie  returns  to  Nevir 
York  city  some  time  before  that  fire,  and  removes 
his  wife  there  shortly  after  that  event. 

From    the    autumn    of    1870  to  January,  1875, 
he  was  in  New  York,  and,  with  a  brief   episode 


TWO  nARD    CASES.  109 

of  politics  in  the  Greeley  cnrapaion  in  1872.  lie 
was  nominnlly  in  the  law  bnsiness  there.  In  the 
al)ounding  shadows  of  his  miserable  life  I  know 
of  no  period  of  equal  blackness  with  this.  P2ven 
the  pseudo-religious  element  in  his  diameter  almost 
entirely  disappears;  his  church  membership  is  used 
only  as  ''a  cloak  to  serve  the  devil  in."  He  joins 
the  church  (Baptist)  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  McArthur,  bor- 
rows money,  which  he  omits  to  return,  by  appeal- 
ing to  the  sympathies  of  the  good  doctor.  He  is 
divorced  for  adultery  by  his  own  procurement,  and 
dismissed  from  the  church  on  charges  of  gross  im- 
morality. His  life  at  this  time  pleads  guilty  to  all 
the  sins  of  the  Decalogue  except  profanity,  '•  high- 
toned  "  gentleman  that  he  is,  who  neither  smokes, 
drinks,  nor  swears.  He  cheats  ever^'body  in  his  ^ 
board  bills,  in  his  legal  transactions,  in  his  office  /^ 
rent;  he  even  "jews"  the  Chatham  Street  He-t/ 
brew  in  a  watch  trade.  He  is  shut  up  in  the 
Tombs  for  a  month  for  one  of  the  least  of  his 
offenses.  No  one  of  Jiis  victims  at  this  time,  in- 
cluding his  wife,  seems  to  have  thought  him  in- 
sane, but  a  thoroughly  unprincipled,  bad  man. 
Those  who  believed  in  a  personal  devil  were  clear 
that  he  had  entered  into  him,  and  questioning,  as 
of  old,  might  have  elicited  the  answer,  "  My  name 
is  legion,  for  we  are  many." 

If  it  is  depravity  alone  that  we  are  looking  for 


110  TIVO  HARD    CASES. 

in  Gaiteau,  we  can  close  our  research  here,  for  he 
certainly  has  it  in  a  confluent  form.  I  go  as  far  as 
any  one  in  insisting  iipon  the  wickedness  of  this 
man,  wliich  seems  to  me  to  be  abundantly  proved. 
We  want  the  facts,  whatever  they  establish,  and 
for  the  proper  psychological  study  of  this  case  we 
cannot  afford  to  be  put  off  with  a  portion  of  the 
truth,  or  anything  less  than  all  tliat  can  be  known. 
Hence  I  have  felt  tliat  they  err,  at  least  as  psy- 
chists,  if  not  as  jurists,  who,  having  demonstrated 
the  depravity,  tliere  close  their  case.  T  grant  you, 
if  wickedness  be  a  talisman  against  insanity,  we 
should  have  no  need  to  proceed  farther.  But  does 
not  their  daily  experience  teach  those  whose  lives 
are  passed  among  the  insane  that  sin  and  disease 
go  hand  in  hand,  and  that  inoculation  with  the 
one  is  no  protection  against  the  other  ?  No,  I  do 
not  confound  depravity  with  insanity,  though  some- 
times their  nnion  is  like  that  of  the  Siamese  twins  : 
you  cannot  separate  them  in  the  life.  Depravity 
alone  falls  veiy  far  short  of  a  satisfactory  explana- 
tion of  this  mental  phenomenon  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  We  need  to  weigh,  collectively,  Guiteau's 
sins,  "which  are  many;"  his  keenness  of  appreci- 
ation on  the  instant  of  the  single  point  before  him, 
which  is  something  wonderful,  conjoined  with  a 
child-like  credulity,  which  is  even  more  so  ;  his  per- 
fectly absurd  expectations,  built  upon  the  veriest 


TU^O  HARD    CASES.  HI 

"  stuff  that  dreams  are  made  of ;  "  his  colossal  ego- 
tism, which  envelops  him  like  an  atmosphere  ;  his 
utter  inability  to  comprehend  the  situation  in  which 
his  crime  has  placed  him ;  together  with  that  blas- 
phemous faith,  which  survives  all  failure,  —  then 
say  what  manner  of  a  man  he  is. 

This  New  York  epoch  of  Guiteau's  life  is  not, 
perhaps,  more  remarkable  for  its  sharp  practice  in 
money-getting  and  evading  payment  than  other 
portions  of  his  career,  but  it  has  less  of  anything 
else  to  characterize  it.  He  appears  to  have  shown 
less  mental  disturbance,  if  not  more  iniquity,  than 
in  subsequent  years.  It  is  noticeable  that  no 
witness  ai)peared  at  the  trial  who,  having  known 
him  only  during  this  New  York  residence,  had  re- 
marked anything  insane  about  him.  Regular  oc- 
cupation, even  though  it  was  scoundrelism,  seemed 
to  have  had  a  certain  controlling  influence  on  his 
mind.  The  defense  called  no  witness  to  testify  in 
regard  to  him  during  this  time,  and  the  testimony 
of  those  produced  by  the  government  was  unan- 
imous that  they  saw  nothing  to  indicate  that  he 
was  in  any  way  a  man  of  unsound  mind.  It  is 
true  that  Herbert  J.  Ketcham  added  to  the  state- 
ment that  he  appeared  to  him  as  "  capable  of  dis- 
cussion in  the  same  manner  as  any  other  person  of 
his  mental  size."  "  That  he  impressed  him  as  a 
man  who  did  not  have  a  fair  desree  of  sense."     It 


112  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

is  certain  that  much  of  the  testimony,  including 
that  of  Mr.  Ketcliam  himself,  showed  the  intellect- 
ual keenness  that  characterized  many  of  his  fraud- 
ulent transactions.  For  example,  in  the  case  of 
the  mortgage  deed,  testified  to  by  Edwards,  which 
he  tried  to  persuade  Edwards  to  take,  but  failing 
of  this  took  it  himself,  yet  at  the  same  time  re- 
quired a  bond  to  secure  himself  against  the  judg- 
ment on  the  foreclosure  of  the  mortgage  ;  also,  the 
oroide  watch  transaction,  where  he  adroitly  with- 
drew his  business  card,  after  it  had  served  his  pur- 
pose on  the  trade,  before  the  pawnbroker  had  se- 
cured his  address  ;  also  Stephen  English  testified 
that  he  seemed  to  him  "a  man  of  remarkable  keen- 
ness of  intellect,  for  he  completely  outwitted  him." 
It  is  clear  that  Ketcham  meant  an  absence  of 
something  other  than  intellectual  sense;  he  is  keen 
enough,  but  he  lacks  common  sense. 

Decidedly  the  sensation  of  the  court-room  during 
the  trial  was  in  reference  to  this  period.  It  was 
the  testimony  of  Shaw  that  in  1872  Guiteau  told 
him  that  if  he  could  not  get  notoriety  for  good,  he 
would  for  evil  :  he  would  shoot  some  of  our  public 
men  ;  "  he  w^ould  imitate  Wilkes  Booth."  This 
statement  came  at  the  close  of  the  afternoon  of  a 
long  day  of  solid  testimony  in  rebuttal  for  the  gov- 
ernment, all  bearing  down  with  terrible  weight 
upon  the  prisoner,  detailing  the  dark  and  crooked 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  113 

wa5^s  of  his  New  York  life,  and  affirming  his  per- 
fect sanity  at  that  time,  so  that  the  effect  of  this 
final  shot  was  almost  stunning. 

Giiiteau  saw  the  bearing  of  it  in  an  instant,  and 
became  very  much  excited,  abusing  the  witness  in 
loud  and  angry  vituperation.  The  impression  pro- 
duced at  the  moment  was  that,  unless  the  truthful- 
ness of  this  witness  could  be  impeached,  it  was  the 
ending  of  the  case,  beyond  putting  the  medical  ex- 
perts on  the  stand  to  establish  his  sanity  on  the 
second  day  of  July.  The  defense  realized  its  effect, 
and  did  the  best  they  could.  They  showed  in  the 
cross-examination  of  Shaw  that  he  had  but  a  very 
indefinite  recollection  of  the  time  or  circumstances 
under  which  this  remarkable  statement  was  made, 
beyond  the  fact  that  it  was  in  his  office  ;  he  also 
stated  that  he  did  not  think  any  one  else  was  pres- 
ent, and  that  he  did  not,  at  the  time,  consider  it 
of  sufficient  importance  to  mention  it  to  any  one, 
for  he  ''  did  not  think  he  (Guiteau)  would  do  such  a 
thing."  What  was  more  to  the  point,  they  proved 
—  but  it  was  not  until  a  later  day  —  that  the  wit- 
ness had  once  been  indicted  and  tried  for  perjury, 
though  acquitted.  It  was  shown  that  the  false 
statement  had  been  made  under  a  mistake,  but  it 
certainly  proved  a  carelessness  in  regard  to  facts 
before  making  the  statement. 

The   government    then  called  one    Edwards,   a 


114  T]rO  HARD   CASES. 

cJerk  ill  law  offices,  wlio  swore  that  lie  was  present 
and  heard  Guiteau's  statement.  Edwards  was  a 
funny  witness,  and  though  he  made  it  probable 
that  Shaw  had  honestly  related  the  conversation  as 
he  remembered  it,  the  solemnity  of  the  statement 
wore  off,  under  Edwards's  way  of  putting  it. 

Shaw  had  hesitated  a  little,  and  the  language 
was  rather  drawn  out  of  him  by  the  district  attor- 
ney, the  reluctant  manner  making  it  all  the  more 
impressive,  as  though  it  had  been  a  conversation 
that  had  so  shocked  him  at  the  time  that  he  had 
hardly  dared  to  repeat  it  up  to  this  day.  Edwards, 
who  probably  gives  a  correct  version  of  their  talk, 
says,  "  I  did  not  pay  much  attention  to  the  first 
part  of  it,  until  they  commenced  to  speak  about 
Abraham  Lincoln.  Mr.  Shaw  and  the  prisoner 
were  talking.  The  prisoner  said  to  Mr.  Shaw, 
talking  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  'Well,  about  Booth?' 
He  said,  '  Booth's  name  will  be  notorious  as  long 
as  Abraham  Lincoln.'  Mr.  Shaw  said  to  him, 
'  Yes,  it  will  be  notorious,  but  in  wh;it  way  ?  Lin- 
coln a  statesman,  and  Booth  an  assassin.'  Well, 
they  went  on  talking,  and  the  prisoner  said  to  Mr. 
Shaw  '  that  he  would  be  notoi-ious  too.'  Mr. 
Shaw  said  to  him,  '  If  you  are  notorious  that  way 
you  will  be  hung ;'  and  said  he,  •'  Well,  I  don't  know 
about  that.'  "  In  the  afternoon,  Edwards  said  to 
Shaw,  "  Such  talk    as    that  did  n't   sound  well." 


A 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  115 

"  Anybody  hearing  that  would  think  we  were  pretty 
bloodthirsty."  To  this  Shaw  made  answer  that  "  no- 
body would  pay  any  attention  to  what  he  said." 
In  answer  to  the  question  why,  Edwards  testi- 
fied, "  Oh,  we  used  to  hear  very  funny  conversa- 
tions from  him  at  times."  Edwards  went  on  to 
explain  himself,  after  his  peculiar  fashion,  at  some 
length,  and  showed  that  Guiteau  had  an  egotistic 
way  of  telling  great  things  about  himself  ;  and  then, 
to  Mr.  Reed's  question,  '•  if  the  conversation  in  re- 
gard to  Lincoln  and  Booth  was  of  such  a  character, 
and  the  statement  was  made  in  such  a  manner  by 
him,  that  he  did  not  regard  it  as  amounting  to  any- 
thing ?  "  he  replied,  "  I  did  not,  sir ;  "  and  after  more 
answers  of  the  same  tenor  he  volunteered  the  state- 
ment, "  The  last  thing  I  should  have  thought  he 
would  do.  I  had  an  idea  he  was  too  careful  of 
himself  to  get  himself  into  any  danger  or  trouble." 
Probably  this  is  the  truth  of  the  whole  matter  ;  it 
was  a  part  of  his  idle  talk  and  braggadocio,  and 
was  forgotten  by  those  who  heard  it  until  the  as- 
sassination recalled  it.  There  is  no  likelihood  that 
at  that  time  -he  contemplated  doing  anything  of 
the  kind ;  if  he  had,  how  improbable  that  he  would 
liave  announced  it  in  that  way  !  And,  moreover, 
as  he,  interrupting,  pertinently  said,  "  Do  you  sup- 
pose, gentlemen  of  the  jury  and  court,  that  if  T 
wanted  to  murder  some  great  man,  as  they  pretend 


116  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

I  did,  I  would  wait  for  eight  or  nine  years  to  do 
it  ?  "  The  only  importance  attachins^  to  the  con- 
versation is  that  it  shows  that  at  that  time  his 
mind  was  capable  of  calmly  entertaining  and  dis- 
cussing the  idea  that  notoriet}^,  even  at  the  cost  of 
a  terrible  crime,  was  better  than  oblivion,  j 

Of  the  episode  of  the  Greeley  political  campaign, 
in  1872,  we  know  very  little.  So  far  as  the  testi- 
mony discloses,  it  bears  considerable  resemblance 
to  his  conduct  in  the  last  j)residential  canvass,  only, 
if  we  accept  Mrs.  Dunmire's  testimony  on  that 
point,  he  was  able  then  to  make  speeches,  and  work 
hard  for  Horace  Greeley,  which  is  more  than  he 
succeeded  in  doing,  in  1880,  for  Garfield.  It  is 
noticeable,  also,  that  at  that  time  he  had  his  eye  on 
a  foreign  mission  :  Chili,  as  two  witnesses  for  the 
government  testified ;  Switzerland,  as  he  modestly 
allows.  Why  the  government  took  pains  to  prove 
this  is  not  so  clear  ;  probably,  because  this  occurred 
at  a  time,  or  about  the  time,  when  no  witness  was 
found  to  swear  to  his  insanity,  and,  if  his  ideas  of 
his  merits  were  so  extravagant  then,  he  was  no  more 
insane  when  he  made  similar  ridiculous  claims  and 
pretensions  in  1881.  This  belongs  to  the  boomer- 
ang style  of  argument.  The  presumption  of  per- 
fect sanity  would  be  wonderfully  strengthened  by 
eliminating,  if  it  were  possible,  both  the  Chilian 
and  the  Austrian  mission  absurdity.     This  is  one 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  117 

of  the  cases  where  two  negatives  of  common  sense 
are  not  equal  to  an  affirmative. 

His  New  York  life  in  1874  grew  up-hill  work, 
or  rather  it  was  continually  going  down-hill,  until, 
appropriately  enough,  it  landed  him  in  The  Tombs. 
Here  Mr.  Scoville  came  to  his  rescue,  and  returned 
with  him  to  Chicago,  where  we  find  him  back  again 
in  a  law  office  in  February,  1875  ;  first  renting 
a  desk  with  George  W.  Plummer,  later  with  Gen- 

>  eral  Reynolds.  He  seems  to  have  been  sobered 
by  his  Tombs'  experience,  and  to  have  remained 
quietly  at  his  law  until  the  autumn  of  the  same 
year,  when  another  vision  of  '•  a  work  to  do  "  in 
newspaper  editing,  a  grand  scheme  of  buying  the 
Chicago  "  Inter-Ocean,"  telegraphing  the  bulk  of  the 

_^  *'  Herald  "  from  New  York  every  morning,  and  re- 
producing it  in  Chicago,  "  controlled  his  will  "  and 
disturbed  his  law-practice.  He  examined  buildings 
with  the  view  of  renting  them  for  his  publishing 
rooms  ;  inquired  the  cost  of  presses,  the  expense  of 
telegraph,  etc.  It  is  true,  lie  had  no  money,  noth- 
ing but  his  magnificent  brains,  to  put  into  the  en- 
terprise ;  but  he  believed  he  would  get  the  money 
easy  enough,  men  had  such  confidence  in  him.  The 
success  of  the  scheme  was  so  self-evident,  he  had 
only  to  ask  John  H.  Adams,  and  promise  to  make 
him  Governor  of  Illinois,  to  obtain  $50,000  from 
him ;  somebody  else  would  give  $25,000  ;  and  he 


118  TWO  HARD  CASES. 

says  as  a  matter  of  fact  Charley  Reed  did  put  in 
$25.  Plummer,  according  to  his  own  testimony, 
thought  this  newspaper  project  "a  first  class  busi- 
ness scheme  ;  "  it  does  not  appear  that  he  put  any 
money  into  it.  Phelps,  who  was  connected  with 
the  "  Incer-Ocean,"  and  testified  tliat  one  part  of  liis 
scheme  as  unfolded  to  him  (Phelps)  was  to  make 
him  editor-in-chief,  says,  "  There  was  nothing  very 
insane  about  the  idea."  He  thinks  that  Guiteau, 
in  his  efforts  to  purchase  and  turn  over  the  "  Inter- 
Ocean  "  displayed  "extraordinary  shrewdness  and 
judgment,  of  the  Colonel  Sellers  type,  —  millions 
in  it." ' 

General  Reynolds,  in  whose  office  Guiteau  held 
a  desk  at  the  time,  seems  to  have  had  many  conver- 
sations with  liim  on  the  subject,  studied  the  mat- 
ter, and  made  some  suggestions  in  the  way  of  ad- 
vice about  it.  His  testimony  is  that  "  there  was 
only  one  drawback  to  it,  and  that  was  the  money 
that  was  necessary ;  "  that  Guiteau  "  sliowed  al- 
most prophecy  in  his  idea  of  what  the  paper  could 
be  made."  According  to  the  statement  of  General 
Reynolds,  the  "Inter-Ocean"  newspaper  has  since 
dm^eloped  in  exact  accordance  with  Guiteau's  idea^i 
But  from  the  fact  that  General  Reynolds  did  not 
open  his  pocket-book,  did  not  give  him  any  letters 
of  introduction,  and  let  this  opportunity  for  invest- 
ment go  by,  it  is  possible  that  after  all  he   saw  a 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  119 

little  absurdity  in  the  idea  of  this  briefless,  penni- 
less lawyer,  "  late  of  New  York,"  taking  up  with- 
out previous  preparation  an  untried  business,  and 
as  manager  and  director  of  this  gigantic  scheme  of 
newspaper  enterprise  intermarrying  the  New  York 
and  Chicago  morning  papers,  and  from  the  match 
making  John  11.  Adams  Governor  of  Illinois. 
And  as  he  buttoned  his  pocket  over  his  wallet,  it 
is  not  unlikely  he  thought  of  Guiteau  as  Dickens's 
David  Copper  field  did  of  his  housekeeper,  Mrs. 
Crupp  :  when  he  was  tempted,  the  evening  after 
his  dissipation,  to  throw  himself  sobbing  on  her 
bosom,  he  "  doubted,  even  at  that  pass,  if  Mrs. 
Crupp  w^ere  quite  the  woman  to  confide  in." 

Hon.  Charles  B.  Farwell's  testimony  is  that  the 
first  time  he  ever  saw  Guiteau  was  when  he  called 
at  his  office,  some  six  or  seven  years  ago  in  Chi- 
cago. "  He  said  his  time  was  very  much  engaged," 
and  handed  me  a  roll  of  papers,  saying,  '  These 
are  editorials  for  a  newspaper  which  I  propose  to 
establish  here.  I  want  you  to  lend  me  $200,000 
for  the  purpose  of  starting  it,  and  I  will  make 
you  President  of  the  United  States.' "  Feasible 
as  this  scheme  was,  strangely  enough,  Farwell  did 
not  adopt  it.  For  $50,000  John  H.  Adams  was 
to  be  made  Governor  of  Illinois,  and  for  $200,000 
Charles  B.  Farwell  President  of  the  United 
States.     And  this  was  Mr.   Farwell's  first  inter- 


120  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

view  with  this  modern  Warwick.  This  is  "judg- 
ment of  the  Sellers  type,  with  millions  in  it,"  and 
something  else,  that  Hon.  Cliarles  B.  Farwell  calls 
insanity. 

Luther  W.  Guiteaii,  writing  under  date  of  Octo- 
ber 15,  1875,  from  Freeport,  Illinois,  says,  "  By 
the  way,  Charles  has  been  here  for  several  days 
past;  came  a  week  ago  yesterday,  and  remained 
until  Thursday  morning,  when  he  took  the  cars  for 
Chicago.  He  came  out  here,  as  it  appears  from 
his  story,  thinking  that  through  and  with  my  aid 
he  could  get  Mr.  Adams  to  loan  him  $25,000,  to 
help  buy  up  the  "Inter-Ocean"  newspaper;  ex- 
pecting, as  he  says,  to  get  the  same  amount  of 
Charles  B.  Fai'well,  also  the  same  amount  of 
a  friend  who  lives  in  New  York,  and  the  same 
amount  of  Potter  Palmer,  making  $100,000.  You 
can  judge  whether  he  is  sane  or  insane.  He 
went  away  very  much  disgusted  with  me  because 
I  would  not  discount  his  note  at  the  bank  for 
$200.  To  my  mind,  he  is  a  fit  subject  for  a 
lunatic  asylum,  and  if  I  had  the  means  to  keep 
him  would  send  him  to  one,  for  a  time  at  least." 

It  is  the  way  a  person  conceives  of,  together 
with  the  manner  in  which  he  presents,  his  idea  that 
stamps  its  character  as  the  project  of  an  unsound 
mind  ;  the  man,  and  not  the  idea,  goes  insane.  Years 
since  an  insane  man  told  me  that  by  means  of  elec- 


TWO  BARD    CASES.  121 

tricity  they  were  projecting  voices  from  a  distance 
into  his  room  :  can  I  therefore  say,  with  Phelps, 
that  "  there  was  nothing  very  insane  about  the 
idea  "  ?  Shall  I  go  fartlier,  and  say,  with  General 
Reynolds,  that  he  '*'  showed  almost  prophecy  "  in 
his  statement,  because  now,  years  later.  Bell,  with 
his  telephone,  has  made  that  insane  idea  a  great 
financial  success  ? 

As  Guiteau  could  get  neither  money  nor  credit, 
the  project  of  the  "Inter-Ocean  "  jDurchase  necessa- 
rily came  to  a  stand-still,  and  shortly  faded  out.  He 
had  left  General  Reynolds's  office  in  November, 
1875,  and,  beyond  his  own  testimony  that  he  tried 
to  pick  up  his  law  business,  there  is  no  evidence 
that  he  did  anything  in  law,  or  anything  else,  after 
the  newspaper  enterprise  failed.  At  any  rate,  in 
June,  187G,  he  drifted  out  to  Mr.  Scoville's  place 
at  Beaver  Lake,  Wisconsin. 

Mrs.  Scoville  said  he  was  different  from  what 
she  had  ever  seen  him  before,  when  he  came  to 
their  home  in  Wisconsin,  —  in  1875,  she  said,  evi- 
dently meaning  1876.  She  did  not  think  she 
would  have  known  him  if  she  had  met  him  on  the 
street.  "  The  whole  appearance  of  the  man  had 
changed :  "  not  a  cliange  of  dress,  but  a  change 
in  his  face  and  countenance,  including,  as  it 
seemed  to  her,  the  shape  of  his  head.  His  man- 
ner had  changed ;    she  described  it  as  an  exalted, 


122  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

a  liifalutiu  state.  She  bad  not  seen  him  for  some 
years. 

Olds,  the  hired  man  at  Mr.  Scoville's,  who  had 
never  seen  Guiteau  before,  testified  that  the  first 
time  he  ever  saw  him  he  said  that  he  appeared 
like  a  crazy  man,  —  an  opinion  which  he  did  not 
change  on  further  acquaintance.  This  for  what  it 
is  worth  ;  it  has  a  certain  value  as  sivino;  the  out- 
ward  appearance  of  the  man  at  this  time. 

Here  he  spent  two  summer  months  in  an  aimless 
kind  of  existence,  moody  and  iriitable  by  turns,  — 
a  very  natural  condition  for  such  a  mind,  between 
the  miscarriage  of  one  wild  project  and  the  incep- 
tion of  another.  His  life  has  been  now  drifting, 
now  rushing  madly,  by  turns,  through  all  these 
years.  The  lime  here  was  filled  up  with  reading  the 
New  Testament,  doing  chores  about  the  place,  and 
light  work  in  the  garden,  as  compensation  for  his 
board.  He  testifies  that  he  "  had  evangelistic  aspi- 
rations ;  thought  he  might  possibly  go  to  Europe, 
as  Moody  did,  and  have  the  same  success."  Ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  Olds,  his  labor  was  not 
profitable.  Guiteau  says,  "  he  was  not  a  horticult- 
urist, an  agriculturist,  or  a  farmer,"  and  Olds's  ac- 
count of  his  soaping  hickories  for  fruit  trees,  weed- 
ing garden  crops,  etc.,  confirms  the  truth  of  that 
statement.  It  was  during  tliis  period  that  he  sud- 
denly and  appai'ently  without  provocation,  beyond 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  123 

an  expostulation  from  his  sister  in  regard  to  his 
work,  raised  the  axe  with  which  he  was  cutting 
wood  against  her ;  and  she,  being  alarmed  about 
his  mental  condition,  called  in  Dr.  Rice,  with  a 
view  of  having  him  confined  in  a  lunatic  hospital, 
if  found  insane.  His  father's  letter  of  October 
31,  1875,  shows  that  this  was  no  new  idea  in  the 
family. 

Dr.  Rice  seems  to  have  taken  a  common-sense 
view  of  the  case.  He  examined  the  man,  and 
ascertained  all  that  he  could  from  the  relatives 
as  to  his  antecedents  and  the  family  history.  He 
found  him  insane,  in  his  opinion  dangerous,  per- 
haps incurable,  and  advised  his  seclusion.  Here 
was  a  physician,  in  the  continuous  practice  of  his 
])rofessiou  for  tw^enty-six  years,  who  testified  that 
frequently,  as  often  as  several  times  a  year,  dur- 
ing that  time  he  had  occasion  to  examine  persons 
with  reference  to  their  commitment  to  hospitals  for 
the  insane.  He  was  called  for  the  express  purpose 
of  deciding  upon  tlie  sanity  of  Charles  J.  Guiteau 
in  1876,  wdien  no  question  of  crime  had  been  raised, 
and  he  found  him  insane.  Among  his  reasons  for 
this  conclusion,  he  mentions,  as  coming  under  his 
own  observation,  "  an  exaltation  of  his  emotional 
nature,  attended  with  explosions  of  emotional  feel- 
ing, from  centric  causes  ;  that  is,  he  could  discover 
no  reason  for  it.     During  these  periods  of  excite- 


124  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

merit,  he  thought  he  could  detect  more  or  less  inco- 
hereiicy  of  thought." 

Of  these  explosions  the  doctor  gives  one  illustra- 
tion of  which  he  was  an  eye-witness.  During  an 
ordinary  evening  conversation,  in  which  nothing  of 
religion  had  been  introduced,  he  rose  suddenly,  and, 
having  appealed  to  those  who  were  near  him  to 
come  to  the  Lord,  became  incoherent ;  "  You 
could  n't  tell  what  he  was  talking  about."  In  ad- 
dition to  an  excessive  egotism,  the  doctor  says  he 
was  the  subject  of  an  Intense  pseudo-religious  feel- 
ing. He  thought,  moreover,  there  was  some  weak- 
ening of  the  judgment,  and,  to  that  extent,  impair- 
ment of  the  natural  faculties,  but  not  very  much 
disturbance  of  the  intellectual  or  perceptional  force, 
as  he  was  unable  to  discover  illusion,  hallucination, 
or  delusion.  He  sums  up,  as  the  grounds  of  his 
decision  :  "  First,  there  was  a  strong  hereditary 
predisposition  ;  second,  there  was  more  or  less  con- 
genital moral  defect,  or  moral  imbecility.  Then, 
engrafted  upon  this  bad  state  of  things,  about  the 
age  of  puberty  came  this  exaltation  of  his  emo- 
tional nature,  which  had  affected  mostly  the 
emotions  of  pride  and  vanity."  To  the  lawyer 
this  savors  of  "  moral  insanity,"  which  is  a  stench 
in  his  nostrils.  To  the  observant  physician,  called 
upon  to  treat  the  multiform  disorders  of  mind,  who 
knows  by  experience  how  often  the  first  manifesta- 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  ^  125 

tions  of  iusanity  are  in  disordered  action  and  ex- 
plosive emotion,  rather  than  in  intellectual  delusion, 
this  pseiido- religious  feeling,  this  "centric"  excite- 
ment of  the  emotions,  are  familiar  pictures  from  his 
every-day  life  among  the  insane.  Guiteau,  getting 
an  inkling  of  the  hospital  project,  left  the  house. 
As  usual,  what  was  everybody's  business  was  no- 
body's, and  no  further  steps  were  taken  for  his 
confinement. 

Again  the  scene  shifts  to  Chicago,  and  the  old 
business  of  the  law.  Not  much  law ;  possibly 
some  collections.  We  have  to  rely  on  his  own 
testimony  for  the  autumn  of  1876.  It  is  certain 
that  he  attended  more  or  less  at  the  Moody  and 
Sankey  meetings,  held  in  Chicago  during  the  latter 
months  of  1876.  He  talks  of  being  an  usher  and 
helping  around  ;  what  his  services  would  amount 
to  we  can  estimate  approximately.  He  claims  that 
in  November  a  remark  made  in  one  of  these  meet- 
ings by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Kittredge,  of  Chicago,  gave 
him  the  first  suggestion  of  his  inspiration  to  write 
the  lecture  on  the  second  coming  of  Christ ;  and 
that  in  December,  1876,  with  much  labor  and  hard 
diofcvinor  in  theolosi'ical  lore  at  the  ChicaofO  Public 
Library,  he  produced  this  lecture,  which  is  more 
or  less  a  paraphrase  of  the  same  topic  in  the  "  Be- 
rean  "  of  John  H.  Noyes.  This  tender  fledgeling  he 
undertook   to  bring  before  the  public  for  the  first 


126  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

time  in  January,  1877,  in  a  Methodist  cluirch  at 
Chicago.  He  says  he  advertised  it  freely,  but  the 
night  was  a  cold  one.  The  house  would  hold  fifteen 
hundred  people,  there  were  twenty-live  or  thirty 
present ;  also,  a  wicked  "  Tribune  "  reporter,  who 
gave  him  a  free  advertisement  in  his  paper,  the 
next  morning,  that  hurt  his  feelings  very  much, 
though,  if  we  can  credit  his  account  of  his  inter- 
view with  the  managing  editor,  it  made  others  smile. 
The  editor  said,  "  It  was  the  laughing-stock  of 
the  W'hole  city."  For  tlie  moment  he  felt  that  the 
world  was  not  ripe  for  his  borrowed  evangel ;  he 
hxid  it  on  the  shelf,  and  took  up  Blackstone  again. 
But  the  leaven  of  theology  had  entered  into  his 
brain  anew  ;  there  was  no  peace,  no  rest,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1877  he  started  out  on  that  remaikable 
lecture  tour.  Plummer,  who  expressed  a  doubt  if 
Guiteau  knew  much  about  Christ's  first  coming, 
and  evidently  saw  very  little  connection  between 
the  law  and  either  coming,  first  or  second,  says  he 
was  surprised  at  the  announcement  of  Guiteau's  in- 
tention to  lecture  on  such  a  theme,  and  advised 
him  to  stick  to  the  law.  Guiteau  replied  "  the  law 
business  was  very  dull,  and  he  thought  he  could  do 
better  in  the  theology  business  just  then." 

Those  who  believe  in  the  perfect  sanity  of  Gui- 
teau see  in  this  lecture  tour  only  a  money-making 
scheme.    Well,  if  it  was,  it  was  a  pretty  crazy  one, 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  127 

from  a  capitalist's  stand-point.  I  have  no  doubt 
this  idea  existed  to  some  extent  in  his  mind,  and, 
when  bantered  by  Plummer,  this  was  the  best 
excuse  he  could  offer  for  a  project  that  he  was 
keen  enough  to  see  had  impressed  Plummer  as 
nonsensical.  But  he  placed  this  same  lecture,  in 
pamphlet  form,  in  the  hands  of  another  lawyer, 
Charles  H.  Reed,  and  the  statement  to  him  was, 
''  The  pamphlet  will  do  you  and  everybody  else 
good,  because  I  have  been  inspired  by  the  Lord  to 
write  it,  and  it  is  as  much  inspired  as  the  New  Tes- 
tament." It  does  not  ajDpear  that  Reed  was  a 
better  Christian  than  Plummer,  but  he  had  not 
chaffed  Guiteau  about  his  mission,  and  so  Guiteau 
disclosed  to  him  the  thought  that  was  uppermost  in 
his  mind,  not  the  after-thought.  These  mixed  mo- 
tives entered  into  his  Theocrat  scheme.  It  was  ''  a 
splendid  chance  for  somebody  to  do  a  big  thing  for 
God,  for  humanity,  and  for  himself." 

His  egotism  never  allows  him  to  forget  himself, 
and  in  his  most  ecstatic  moments  he  has  probably 
never  risen  above  a  pseudo-religious  emotion.  At 
his  worst,  the  depiavity  of  his  nature  is  demoniacal ; 
at  his  best,  he  is  but  an  insane  apostle.  In  vary- 
ing degree  such  conflicting  elements  seem  to  be 
always  present  in  his  life,  and  it  is  a  close  study 
between  the  contradictions  of  hypocrisy  and  of  dis- 
ease in  his  career. 


1:^8  TWO   UARD    CASES.    . 

If  we  accept  his  own  statement,  for  a  time  early 
iu  1877  he  attempted  to  carry  the  law  office  and 
the  lecture  field  together.  In  May  he  went  to 
Evanstown,  and  proclaimed  his  new  gospel  before 
a  somewhat  restless,  but  respectable-sized  audience. 
Still  nominally  at  the  law,  he  lectured  at  Racine 
in  August,  giving  the  wonderful  revelation  of  the 
second  coming  in  a.  d.  70.  His  audience  was  not 
large,  but  the  Presbyterian  clergyman,  who  came 
with  his  deacons  to  hear  him,  seems  to  have  treated 
him  with  the  liberality  of  a  Christian  gentleman  ; 
and  this  man,  while  he  gave  Guiteau  "no  scrip," 
did  manage  to  confirm  the  idea  that  he  had  great 
truths  for  the  world.  This  was  all  he  wanted ; 
henceforward  for  nearly  two  years  there  was  no 
more  wavering  between  law  and  theology  ;  a  voice 
had  called  him  that  "  he  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to 
disobey."  The  "  Tribune  "  reporter  had  almost 
quenched  the  divine  spark  at  the  outset ;  but  after 
smouldering  for  months  it  kindled  afresh,  and 
this  encouragement  from  the  sympathetic  minister 
fanned  it  into  a  consuming  fire. 

His  record  is  a  strange  one  from  the  autumn  of 
1877  to  the  spring  of  1879,  when  he  abandons  the 
lecture  field,  but  not  theology.  Here  are  nearly 
two  years  of  lectures,  or  rather  attempts  to  lecture. 
What  place  throughout  the  whole  North  and  West 
that  did  not  hear  of  him,  or  have  the  opportunity 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  129 

to  hear  him  ?  Certainly  the  list  of  cities  and 
towns  embraced  in  his  route  is  too  long  to  admit  of 
enumeration  here.  There  are  three  ways  in  which 
this  wild  pilgrimage  is  susceptible  of  partial  ex- 
planation, at  least,  according  to  the  stand-point  from 
which  it  is  viewed  :  His  own  is  that  of  apostolic 
preaching,  and  his  egotism  audaciously  parallels  it 
with  the  mission  of  St.  Paul,  —  "  In  journeyings 
often,  in  peril  of  waters,  in  prison,  in  weariness 
and  painfulness,  in  cold  and  nakedness,"  —  all  these 
he  gives  us  in  his  narrative ;  but  it  is  hardly  to  be 
supposed  that  any  other  human  being  than  him- 
self will  claim  that  he  is  divinely  inspired,  certainly 
no  sane  one.  "  The  literary  tramp,"  "  the  cham- 
pion dead-beat,"  —  this  is  the  popular  view  of  the 
man  and  his  journey.  His  evasion  of  board-bills  on 
the  route  and  his  free  rides  on  railroads  give  support 
to  this  theory.  The  objection  to  this  view  is  that 
his  labor  was  absolutely  without  return.  It  could 
not  have  taken  two  years  to  convince  a  sane  man 
that  there  were  easier  ways  of  getting,  or  failing 
to  get,  a  living  than  this.  Then  there  is  the  third 
theory,  that,  being  insane,  he  went  because  he  could 
not  help  going.  For  myself,  when  I  trace  that  mad 
hurrying  from  city  to  city,  it  seems  like  a  picture 
of  one,  the  Jew  of  mediseval  story,  driven  along 
under  a  curse  ;  or  the  Scripture  lesson  of  the  un- 
clean spirit,  whose  language  may  have  suggested  to 


130  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

the  old  monks  that  legend  of  the  wunderiug,  un- 
dying one,  —  "  walking  through  dry  places,  seeking 
rest  and  finding  none."  The  demon  of  unrest  seemed 
now  to  have  entered  into  this  man  to  dwell  there. 
How  many  such  tourists  we  find,  from  Pratt,  the 
Great  American  Traveler,  down,  many  of  wliom 
have  taken  permanent  lodgings  in  insane  asylums. 

Guiteau,  once  on  his  heat,  seems  to  have  had  no 
power  to  pause  for  any  length  of  time,  until  the 
impelling  force  was  exhausted ;  as  he  expresses  it, 
"  until  he  had  worked  the  inspiration  out  of  him." 
To  all  outward  appearances  the  whole  mission  is  a 
total  failure ;  the  second  coming  remains  as  much 
in  the  clouds  as  ever.  He  has  audiences,  and  his 
collections  amount  to  nothing  ;  again,  he  advertises, 
but  gets  no  audience.  When  they  do  come,  if 
good-natured  they  only  laugh  at  him,  if  disgusted 
they  hoot  him.  Sometimes  he  leaves  his  audience 
with  his  lecture  unfinished ;  more  often  it  is  his  au- 
dience that  leaves  him.  No  matter,  he  travels  on. 
He  walks  if  he  must,  he  rides  if  he  can.  He  is 
put  off  of  one  train  and  takes  the  next ;  he  sees 
always  the  lecture  ahead,  will-o'-the-wisp  that  it  is, 
leading  him  on  wild  journeys,  but  nothing  seems  to 
discourage  or  shake  his  faith  and  his  purpose. 
Once  he  jumps  from  an  express  train  in  rapid 
motion,  but  he  is  "  the  Lord's  man,"  and  is  saved 
for   a  worse   end.     Later,   he  is  on   the   steamer 


TWO   HARD    CASES.  131 

StoningtoTi  when  she  collides  with  the  Narragansett, 
but,  strange  providence !  the  hour  has  not  struck 
for  him,  though  better  men  die  tliere.  Indeed,  dur- 
ing all  tliis  lecture  period,  allowing  for  his  unpaid 
board-bills  and  the  occasional  contributions  of  pity- 
ing men  and  women,  it  is  still  a  wonder  where  his 
daily  bread  comes  from,  how  he  exists  from  day  to 
day.  He  parts  with  his  jacket  to  a  conductor  ;  at 
Detroit  they  arrest  him  for  a  board-bilh  —  '*  naked 
and  in  prison,"  all  the  same  to  him ;  he  sows  the 
word,  and  leaves  the  result  to  the  Lord  of  the  har- 
vest. Certainly  it  is  sown  in  weakness,  on  stony 
ground.  At  last,  after  nearly  two  years  of  that 
planting,  he  leaves  the  lecture  stand ;  though  it  is 
some  oionths  later,  after  a  little  turn  at  law  and 
the  insurance  business  in  Chicago,  again,  that  he 
makes  his  final  exit  from  the  lecture  platform,  in 
Boston,  after  vainly  attempting  to  demonstrate,  in 
his  peculiar  fashion,  to  the  infidels  in  Paine  Me- 
morial Hall,  the  self-evident  fact  that  two  thirds  of 
them  were  going  down  to  perdition. 

Over  this  period  of  time,  which  we  may  call  the 
lecture  epoch,  there  was,  at  the  trial,  the  usual  con- 
flicting testimony  in  regard  to  Guiteau's  mental 
condition  as  observed  by  those  who  saw  him  then. 
Those  who  did  not  hear  him  attempt  to  lecture, 
and  who  had  no  talk  with  him  in  regard  to  the  sec- 
ond coming,  as  well  as  those  who  in  any  way  suf- 


132  TWO   HARD  CASES. 

fered  in  the  matter  of  board-bills  or  non-payment 
of  dues  at  his  hands,  saw  no  insanity.  Tiie  gen- 
eral impression  left  upon  the  minds  of  those  who 
heard  him  on  theology  was  that  he  was  mentally 
deranged.  Rev.  Mr.  Burton,  however,  thought 
the  word  to  use  was  "  badly  arranged  "  rather  than 
'•deranged;"  he  evidently  believed  in  congenital 
defect  instead  of  active  disease ;  but  on  the  whole 
the  testimony  of  the  defense  was  a  unit  on  the  in- 
sanity of  his  theology. 

In  marked  contrast  to  this,  and  really  the  strong- 
est testimony  offered  by  government  on  this  point, 
was  that  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Withrow,  of  the  Boston 
Park  Street  Church.  Guiteau  seems  to  have  first 
sought  his  acquaintance  in  the  hope  of  obtaining 
permission  to  deliver  a  lecture  on  Ingersoll  in  the 
Doctor's  church ;  a  lecture  which,  after  considera- 
ble trouble  in  securing  a  suitable  place  for  delivery, 
he  finally  gave  in  the  hall  of  the  Methodist  Book 
Concern,  to  an  audience  of  about  a  dozen,  the 
night  being  stormy.  Though  he  failed  of  securing 
the  Park  Street  Church  for  his  lecture,  he  still 
attended  service  there,  and  was  so  constantly  at 
the  Friday  evening  meeting  as  to  attract  Dr 
Withrow's  attention  in  an  audience  of  three  to 
five  hundred  people.  The  Doctor  said  Guiteau 
was  usually  present,  and  that  he  attended  the  other 
meetings  of  a  similar  character ;  also  the  Tuesday 


TWO  HARD  CASES.  133 

evening  meetings,  that  occurred  every  fortnight, 
and  were  partially  social  in  their  arrangement. 
While  other  "  dead-beats  "  have  a  habit  of  frequent' 
iug  theatres  and  drinking  saloons,  this  man  seems 
to  have  had  a  singular  idiosyncrasy  for  being  con- 
stant at  prayer-meetings  and  similar  places  of  en- 
joyment to  him.  At  these  meetings  the  Doctor 
liad,  several  times,  the  opportunity  to  hear  him 
speak  on  the  religious  theme  under  discussion,  and 
had  also  several  conversations  with  him.  He  was 
positive  that  he  knew  Guiteau  in  Boston  in  the  win- 
ter of  1878-79,  and  the  following  one  of  1879-80; 
that  he  saw  him  more  f]"equently  the  first  season, 
and  that  most  of  his  conversations  with  him  and 
his  observations  of  hini^  were  during  that  time, 
but  that  he  saw  nothing  different  in  his  appearance 
the  second  winter  :  and  in  answer  to  the  question 
wliether  he  ever  saw  anything  to  indicate  to  him 
that  he  was  an  insane  man,  or  a  man  of  unsound 
mind  in  any  respect  whatever,  he  said,  "  Oh,  never  ; 
not  the  least ;  not  the  first  sign  of  it."  He  im- 
pressed him  as  "  an  ill-natured  man,  a  very  acute 
man." 

Assuming  the  dates  to  be  correct,  Dr.  Withrow 
saw  Guiteau  in  the  time  of  one  of  his  lecture 
tours ;  he  did  not  hear  him  lecture,  but  did  hear 
him  speak  at  the  meetings.  And  it  is  certaiidy 
remarkable  that,  sane  or  insane,  the  man  could  so 


134  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

far  control  his  egotism  as  to  exhort  on  the  subjects 
that  would  naturally  be  presented  at  a  religious 
meeting,  and  not  give  vent  to  any  of  his  peculiar 
views,  which  he  was  apparently  embracing  every 
opportunity  to  proclaim,  and  which,  it  can  hardly 
be  doubted,  he  thought  would  call  attention  to  liim- 
self  as  a  profound  thinker,  whether  we  allow  or 
deny  that  he  believed  in  the  views  that  he  ad- 
vanced. This  continued  repression  of  the  egotistic 
vanity  of  the  man  must  stand  as  one  of  the  many 
anomalies  of  the  case,  from  whatever  point  it  is 
viewed.  If  he  continually  repressed  all  allusion 
to  his  inspired  labors,  it  is  not  strange  that  Dr. 
Withrovv,  meeting  him  only  in  that  general  way; 
saw  no  insanity  about  him ;  the  strangeness  lies  in 
the  fact  of  the  concealment. 

But  though  Guiteau  retired  from  the  lecture 
field  in  the  autumn  of  1879,  he  did  not  abandon 
theology.  He  prepared  to  issue  an  inspired  vol- 
ume, containing  his  views  on  "  the  second  coming," 
his  lecture  on  ''  perdition,''  a  collection  of  selections 
from  the  "  Berean"  which  he  had  passed  through 
the  crucible  of  his  own  brain,  and  had  apparently 
persuaded  himself  had  been,  by  the  substitution  of  a 
word  here  and  the  alteration  of  a  sentence  there, 
transmuted  into  his  own,  —  a  "direct  revelation, 
equal  to  anything  in  the  New  Testament." 

Those  who  believed  him  only  a  fraud  will  see  in 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  135 

this  stolen  material  from  the  "  Bereau,"  convincing 
proof  of  the  correctness  of  their  opinion.  Those 
who  have  had  much  occasion  to  peruse  the  produc- 
tions of  the  insane,  in  whom  the  religious  idea  is 
prominent,  will  recall  the  frequency  with  which 
these  writings  are  a  mere  rehash  of  Scripture  and 
books  of  devotion  ;  not,  therefore,  deemed  the  less 
important  as  emanations  from  their  own  minds  by 
the  writers  tliemselves. 

"  The  Truth,  a  Companion  to  the  Bible,"  by 
Charles  Guiteau,  was  issued  as  a  bound  volume,  in 
Boston,  some  time  in  November,  1879.  Guiteau 
had  evidently  expected  great  results  from  its  pub- 
lication. It  was  sent  to  leading  ministers  and  edit- 
ors. The  world,  as  he  supposed,  w^as  in  a  state  of 
expectancy,  waiting  for  the  word.  The  preface 
modestly  requested  for  it  '-a  careful  attention,  to 
the  end  that  many  souls  may  find  the  Saviour." 
But  there  was  no  awakening  ;  he  says,  '"  It  fell 
perfectly  flat ;  I  did  not  sell  fifty  copies,"  and  he 
sat  down   in  disgust. 

This  was  the  subsidence  of  theology,  at  least 
for  a  time.  Mentally,  I  believe  it  was  a  period  of 
quiescence.  In  this  little  eddy  of  his  life,  the 
last  before  the  whirlpool,  he  seems  to  have  taken 
an  office  in  Boston,  and  for  some  months  endeav- 
ored to  get  back  to  work  in  soliciting  life  insur- 
ance.    But  the  tide  was  rising  again  ;  the  impor- 


136  TWO  HARD  CASES. 

tant  presidential  campaign  of  1880  was  drawing 
on.  When  tlie  nomination  of  Grant  was  fore- 
shadowed, he  went  up  to  the  state  library,  and 
there  wrote  out  his  campaign  speech  for  the  great 
general ;  but  the  Chicago  Convention  named  an- 
other. It  would  not  do  to  throw  away  the  brain- 
work  he  had  put  into  that  eulogy,  so,  as  with  the 
cheap  wood-cuts  that  do  duty  in  our  illustrated  press 
a  dozen  times  for  military  heroes  under  different 
names,  he  retouched  it  a  little,  erased  Grant  and 
wrote  in  Garfield,  closed  his  Boston  office,  and,  tak- 
ing passage  for  New  York  on  the  Stonington,  on 
that  dark  night  of  shipwreck,  the  11th  of  June, 
1880,  he  entered  upon  his  political  career.  There 
was  storm  and  darkness,  and  the  curtain  rising  for 
the  last  act. 

Guiteau  went  to  New  York,  and  offered  his  serv- 
ices to  the  Republican  National  Committee,  intend- 
ing to  throw  the  weight  of  his  speech  into  the 
scale,  not  alone  as  a  campaign  document,  but  as 
one  of  the  great  oratorical  efforts  of  the  time. 
Very  early  he  took  it  to  Saratoga  in  manuscript, 
but  the  auspices  do  not  appear  to  have  been  favor- 
able for  delivery ;  he  accumulates  at  least  one 
board-bill  there,  and  returns  to  New  York.  In 
some  way,  a  way  that  will  ever  be  mysterious  to  us, 
he  gets  his  manuscript  in  type,  with  the  imprint  of 
the  National  Republican  Committee  upon  it.    What 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  13T 

was  tills  speech  ?  Just  two  pages,  entitled  "  Garfield 
against  Hancock,"  of  very  commonplace  thought 
on  the  situation.  G.  C.  Gorham  testifies,  after  pe- 
rusing it,  that  it  was  "  neither  remarkable  on  the 
one  hand,  nor  ridiculous  on  the  other."  E.  A. 
Storrs  says  that  "  it  appeared  to  have  been  printed 
under  the  auspices  of  the  National  Committee, 
which  seemed  to  him,  after  reading  the  speech,  to  be 
curious."  That  was  not  the  way  it  was  viewed  by 
Guiteau.  At  that  time  he  spoke  to  Storrs  in  strong 
commendation  of  it.  The  way  he  handled  it  shows 
something  of  his  estimate  of  it ;  it  became  his  let- 
ter of  introduction  on  all  occasions.  It  was  his  in- 
troduction to  General  Logan,  to  General  Arthur, 
to  General  Garfield,  and  I  know  not  to  how  many 
others.  Not  being  then  in  "  theology,"  he  makes 
no  claim  to  inspiration  for  it ;  though  there  is  little 
doubt  that  he  thought  it  one  of  the  most  able  pa- 
pers of  the  campaign,  perhaps  about  as  near  in- 
spiration as  theology  ever  comes  to  politics.  He 
says  he  never  delivered  it  but  once;  that  was  before 
a  colored  assemblage  in  Twenty  Fifth  Street,  New 
York.  He  began  the  address,  but  the  night  was 
warm,  there  were  plenty  of  other  speakers  ready  to 
go  on,  so  he  stopped  midway,  as  was  his  wont,  and 
handed  the  document  to  the  reporter.  But  during 
the  entire  campaign  he  remained  at  his  post  of  duty, 
hanging  around  the  committee  rooms,  holding  him- 


Ids  TWO  HARD  ca;sl.s. 

self  in  readiness  for  an  engagement.  Meantime  it 
became  necessary,  from  bis  stand-point,  tbat  he 
should  live  and  do  something  to  keep  alive,  and 
accordingly  we  find  him,  at  odd  moments,  solicit- 
ing for  a  life  insurance  company.  But  his  heart  jpm 
was  in  the  political  work,  and  his  presence  gener- 
ally about  republican  headquarters  in  New  York, 
Of  what  earthly  use,  other  than  ornamental,  he 
was  about  those  headquarters,  vihat  possible  service 
he  can  have  rendered  to  ihe  party  by  his  labors,  it 
is  difficult  to  imagine  ;  still  he  says  he  "was  with 
Arthur  and  Grant  in  the  campaign,"  and  there  is 
little  doubt  he  shook  hands  with  both  of  these 
gentlemen.  Strong  men  girt  themselves  for  the 
fray,  and  he  looked  on  approvingly.  Storrs  says 
when  he  met  him  there,  in  August;  "he  was 
apparently  in  excellent  spirits,  rather  exultant  in 
his  manner  ;  "  no  doubt  he  felt  he  was  doing  valiant 
work.  The  tide  turned  with  the  October  elections 
in  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  Guiteau,  taking  time  by 
the  forelock,  hurried  off  a  note  to  General  Garfield, 
writing  from  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  in  New  York, 
but  in  his  haste  not  stopping  to  date  it.  This  let- 
ter could  not  be  found  for  production  at  the  trial, 
and  I  give  the  version  that  appeared  in  the  news- 
papers, which  I  presume  is  a  correct  one,  as  it  cor- 
responds very  closely  to  what  Guiteau  at  the  trial 
stated  as  its  substance. 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  139 

Dear  General,  —  I,  Charles  Guiteau,  hereby 
make  application  for  the  Austrian  mission.  Being 
about  to  mai'ry  a  wealthy  and  accomplished  heir- 
ess of  this  city,  we  think  that  together  we  might 
represent  the  nation  with  dignity  and  grace.  On 
the  principle  of  first  come,  first  served,  I  have 
faith  that  you  will  give  this  application  favorable 
consideration.  Charles  Guiteau. 

One,  reading  such  a  letter,  with  no  knowledge 
whatever  of  the  circumstances  of  the  writei',  know- 
ing only  that  it  was  written  in  good  faith,  in  the 
expectation  of  furthering  the  writer's  claims  for  tlie 
office,  and  not  as  an  idle  joke  on  the  recipient  of 
the  letter,  would  liazaad  little  in  saying  that  it  was 
the  production,  either  of  an  insane  man  or  a  fool. 

Guiteau  remained  in  New  York  after  the  election, 
writing  General  Garfield  a  reminder  of  his  appli- 
cation for  the  Austrian  mission  some  time  in  Jan- 
uary, and  on  the  day  following  the  inauguration  he 
arrived  in  Washington.  He  says  he  gave  up  the 
hof)e  of  the  mission  as  soon  as  he  knew  Blaine  had 
been  appointed  Secretary  of  State.  Much  as  it 
was  below  his  deserts,  he  decided  to  content  him- 
self with  the  Paris  consulship  as  the  reward  for  his 
services  during  the  campaign.  Remember  this  is 
not  a  joke  with  him;  it  is  dead  earnest.  In  the  fur- 
therance of  tills  appointment,  within  a  week  after 


140  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

his  arrival  in  Washington,  he  pushes  himself  through 
the  room  of  the  private  secretary  into  the  Presi- 
dent's apartment,  and  into  his  presence.  This  is  his 
account  as  a  witness  :  "  He  [the  President]  was 
in  conversation  \yith  several  politicians.  I  remem- 
ber specially  Levi  P.  Morton,  now  minister  to 
France,  and  General  Tyner.  I  knew  both  of  these 
gentlemen.  As  soon  as  they  saw  me,  I  was  very 
cordially  received  by  them  [query,  How  ?].  Well, 
they  were  glad  to  see  me,  and  Mr.  Morton  espe- 
cially asked  about  my  health,  and  how  I  was  getting 
along,  etc.  I  only  saw  him  a  moment.  As  soon  as 
General  Garfield  was  at  leisure  I  stepped  up  to 
him  and  gave  him  my  speech.  Of  course  he  recog- 
nized me  at  once.  I  marked  my  name,  and  Paris 
consulship  at  the  end  of  it,  connecting  it  with  my 
name,  and  I  gave  it  to  him,  and  I  told  him  that  I 
was  an  applicant  for  the  Paris  consulship;  and  he 
looked  at  it,  and  I  left  him  reading  the  speech,  and 
retired."  What  an  original  style  of  application ! 
—  the  speech  that  did  the  work,  and  the  author's 
name  modestly  connected  by  a  long  line  sweeping 
around  the  margin,  with  "  Paris  consulship  "  writ- 
ten at  the  bottom  of  the  page.  How  delicately 
the  request  is  conveyed,  yet  hidden  from  the  or- 
dinary observer  almost  as  completely  as  Pickwick 
concealed  his  affections  for  the  widow  Bardell  un- 
der "  chops  and   tomato  sauce  "  !     How  perfectly 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  141 

ridiculous,  but  for  the  terrible  tragedy  which  they 
foreshadowed,  all  these  interviews  and  patroniz- 
inor  notes  to  the  President,  with  their  sus^irestions 
drawn  from  his  long  political  experience,  appear 
when  you  bring  them,  out  of  the  weird  light  in 
which  his  brain  shaped  them,  into  common  day  ! 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  reproduce  here  those 
notes  of  Guiteau  wliich  were  marked  "  private,"  and 
in  rapid  succession  poured  in  upon  the  President 
from  his  anteroom,  where  Guiteau,  waiting  day  after 
day,  came  at  last  to  be  commented  on  as  peculiar  by 
those  in  attendance.  They  have  been  printed  and 
reprinted  in  the  newspapers  throughout  the  country, 
until  every  one  is  familiar  with  them.  It  cannot 
be  doubted  that  these  applications  for  the  Austrian 
mission  and  the  Paris  consulship  were  made  in 
good  faith.  They  show  that  Guiteau  believed  him- 
self capable  of  filling  either.  In  my  interviews 
with  him  at  the  jail,  I  questioned  him  in  regard  to 
his  fitness  for  the  consulship  at  Paris.  I  found  he 
really  knew  nothing  of  the  service;  he  was  ignorant 
of  the  French  lano^uao'e ;  but  —  and  this  seemed  to 
me  to  be  the  sum  of  his  qualifications  —  his  name 
was  of  French  orioin,  his  ancestor  was  a  Huojuenot. 

Secretary  Blaine  testified  he  did  not  think  Mr. 
Guiteau  belonged  to  the  rank  and  class  of  men  who 
would  naturally  be  assigned  to  the  Paris  consulship, 
but  he  also  stated  that  there  was  nothing  which 


142  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

Struck  him  as  peculiar  in  this  case,  and  added, 
"  Probably,  i^  I  bad  never  seen  but  one  office-seeker, 
I  should  have  thought  lie  was  very  persistent;  but 
I  had  seen  so  many  of  the  same  kind  that  I  was  not 
surprised."  If  Guiteau  was  a  fair  sample  of  the 
"  forty  men  "  waiting  for  office,  every  morning,  at 
the  secretary's  rooms,  as  he  would  imply,  it  shows 
that  there  is  call  not  only  for  "  civil  service  reform," 
b»t  for  missionarj'hibor,  at  the  national  Capitol. 

It;  was  not  the  post-office  at  some  cross-roads  in 
the  wilderness  that  he  sought,  but  the  Austrian 
mission,  or,  failing  of  that,  the  Paris  consulship. 
At  that  moment,  was  there  another  sane  man  liv- 
ing in  America,  wdio  believed  Guiteau  possessed 
a  single  qualification  for  either  of  those  high  offices  ? 
Could  he  have  done  anything  better  calculated  to 
demonstrate  his  unfitness  for  any  office  than  to 
write  the  notes  which  he  did?  When  he  called 
upon  Senator  Logan,  in  March,  to  get  him  to  rec- 
ommend him  for  the  Paris  consulship,  he  did  not 
strike  him  as  a  person  whom  he  desired  to  recom- 
mend for  an  office  of  that  character,  or  for  any  other 
office.  His  wardrobe  appeared  to  have  anticipated 
the  summer,  though  this  was  the  middle  of  March, 
of  a  backward  spring.  With  an  ordinary  coat,  he 
wore  pants  that  were  evidently  a  contribution  from 
the  last  warm  season.  Sandal  rubbers  did  duty  in 
lieu  of  either  boots  or  shoes,  and  stockings  were 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  143 

omitted  entirely.  There  he  stood,  urging  his  claims 
for  the  office,  ready  to  take  his  credentials  for 
Paris,  but  in  full  court  dress  for  Dahomey. 

At  a  second  interview,  a  day  or  two  later,  the 
senator  says  Guiteau  showed  more  excitement  in 
his  manner,  and,  going  down  to  his  breakfast  that 
morning,  at  his  boarding-house,  and  observing  him 
at  the  table,  he  called  the  landlady,  and  told  her 
that  he  thought  that  gentleman  was  "a  little  off 
in  his  head,  a  little  inclined  to  be  crazy,  and  that 
she  had  better  not  have  him  in  her  boarding-house." 
Now,  as  Guiteau  relied  very  much  for  his  success 
upon  the  support  of  Senator  Logan,  he  would  cer- 
tainly wish  to  make  as  favorable  an  impression  on 
him  as  possible.  We  have  seen  what  that  impres- 
sion was. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  waited  upon  Senator  Har- 
rison about  the  same  time,  preceding  his  interview 
with  a  bundle  of  the  pamphlet  edition  of  "  Gar- 
field against  Hancock."  The  senator  gave  him  no 
encouragement  that  he  would  assist  him  in  his  ef- 
forts for  office,  and  in  several  short  interviews 
which  he  had  with  him  he  observed  nothing  iu 
conversation  to  lead  him  to  the  conclusion  that 
Guiteau  was  not  a  sane  man.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  his  appearance  varied  somewhat  witli  his  mood, 
and  that  as  a  rule  he  did  not  attract  attention  by 
his  behavior. 


144  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

The  spring  of  1881  was  clecarly  one  of  great 
expectations  with  him ;  he  really  thought  he  should 
receive  the  consulship,  which  he  felt  was  due  hioi 
for  his  arduous  services  in  the  campaign.  Mr. 
Storrs,  who  met  him  at  the  Riggs  House,  says  he 
appeared  very  confident  and  exultant  about  it. 
The  dead-lock  in  the  Senate  deferred  his  hope, 
day  by  day,  putting  its  fulfillment  further  away. 
Then  came  the  nomination  of  Robertson  for  the 
New  York  collectorship,  the  gauntlet  thrown  down 
between  the  administration  and  the  stalwarts;  then 
Blaine's  sharp  reply,  "  Never  speak  to  me  again 
on  the  subject  of  the  Paris  consulship ; "  and  fol- 
lowing close  upon  it  the  resignation  of  Senators 
Conkling  and  Piatt.  Was  everything  going  to 
wreck,  and  with  it  his  Paris  consulship  ?  This 
was  the  question  that  came  to  his  mind.  The  tide 
of  politics  that  had  cast  him  up,  but  had  brought 
him  no  position,  was  ebbing  away,  and  carrying  the 
Republican  party  with  it.  He  was  a  Grant  man 
from  the  start.  Blaine  was  "  a  bad  man,"  and  in 
the  hands  of  incompetent  leaders ;  everytliing  was 
going  adrift ;  the  Democrats  would  come  back  into 
power,  and  perhaps  another  civil  war  was  impend- 
ing. 

And  now  a  great  conception  dawned  on  him. 
Following  along  his  life,  we  have  seen  how,  from 
time  to  time,  great  schemes  have  taken  possession 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  145 

of  his  minrl,  and  how,  after  a  period  of  incubation, 
they  have  expanded  into  gigantic  failures.  Like 
forest  fires,  they  have  swept  everything  before 
them  for  a  time,  burning  themselves  out  at  last. 
He  says  —  and  I  think  he  tells  the  truth  —  that 
on  Wednesday  night,  after  the  New  York  senators 
had  resigned,  he  went  to  bed  about  eight  o'clock, 
greatly  perplexed  and  worried  about  the  situation. 
Before  he  went  to  sleep  the  impression  came  over 
his  mind  like  a  flash  that  if  the  President  was  out 
of  the  way  everything  would  go  well.  That  is  all 
there  is  to  it.  It  was  only  necessary  to  plant  such 
a  seed  in  such  a  mind,  and  all  the  rest  would  grow 
like  a  upas,  poisoning  everything.  It  would  grad- 
ually gather  about  it  all  his  thoughts,  all  his  ener- 
gies, all  that  terrible  pseudo  religious  element  that, 
false  as  it  is,  controls  him  all  the  same.  But  it  did 
not  become  overpowering  and  irresistible  at  once, 
if  ever.  He  says  the  idea  was  repugnant  to  him 
at  first,  and  he  kept  throwing  it  off.  He  told  Dr. 
Gray  that  if  he  had  received  the  Paris  consul- 
ship at  any  time  prior  to  fully  making  up  his  mind 
to  remove  the  President  he  would  have  taken  it 
and  gone  off ;  as  Guiteau,  interrupting,  said.  Any 
time  prior  to  the  1st  of  June.  I  believe  he  told 
the  truth  as  to  his  feelings  in  this  matter.  No  one 
knew  better  than  his  eminent  questioner  about  the 
formative  stage  of  morbid  ideas,  and  how  some 
10 


146  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

powerful  motive,  acting  upon  tlie  individual,  will, 
sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  a  real  sorrow  to  a 
melancholic,  dislodge  them  entii-ely.  liut  was  it 
ever  once  heard  of  that  an  insune  person  should 
name  a  limit  of  time  before  which  a  reward  would 
have  checked  an  insane  act  ?  Often  :  take  one  in- 
stance. An  insane  woman  under  my  care  threw 
herself  into  the  river;  rescued,  I  asked  her,  "  Why 
did  you  do  this  ?  "  "I  kept  from  it  as  long  as  I 
could,"  was  her  reply,  "  and  if  you  had  let  me  go 
home  last  Wednesday  with  my  friends  I  should 
never  have  done  it."  I  found  tlie  idea  had  been 
there  for  weeks,  but  the  discouraged  feeling  about 
going  home  was  what  turned  the  scale.  Lest  it 
should  be  claimed  that  this  was  not  insanity,  but 
mere  depression  of  spirits,  from  being  kept  too 
long  in  a  hospital  after  recovery,  I  may  say  that, 
following  this  plunge  in  the  icy  water,  she  rapidly 
improved,  was  cheerful  where  she  had  been  de- 
pressed, and  some  weeks  Liter  went  home,  appar- 
ently well.  It  was  her  misfortune  to  have  an  intem- 
perate husband,  who  again,  a  year  later,  worried 
her  into  insanity,  and  she  was  once  more  placed  in 
the  hospital.  I  understood  that  she  also  recovered 
from  that  attack,  but  some  time  after,  the  disease 
ao-ain  recurriuir,  she  took  her  own  life  at  home. 

The  1st  of  June  found  Guiteau  with  his  mind 
fully  made  up  to  do  the  deed.    For  a  full  month  he 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  147 

watched,  and  plotted,  and  planned.  We  should  be 
in  ignorance  of  most  of  the  history  of  this  crime 
but  for  his  own  statement,  his  apparent  eagerness 
to  give  a  full  account  of  the  murder,  from  its  first 
inception  to  its  accomplishment,  and  to  lay  bare 
the  inner  workings  of  his  own  mind  in  all  its  hide- 
ousness.  Perhaps  that  child-like  confidence  which 
leads  him  to  state  the  details  of  his  crime  to  the 
prosecuting  officers  and  to  the  world,  feeling  that 
the  facts  are  all  that  are  needed  for  his  justifica- 
tion, is  common  in  criminals  ;  I  know  it  is  in  the 
insane. 

On  the  8th  of  June  he  purchased  his  pistol  and 
commenced  practicing,  being  wholly  unskilled  in 
the  use  of  fire-arms.  On  the  same  day  he  wrote  to 
the  Rev.  Howard  C.  Dunham,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  as 
follows  :  — 

RiGGS  House,  Washingtox,  D.  C, 
June  8,  1881. 

Dear  Sir, —  I  wish  you  would  send  me  by  re- 
turn mail  here  a  copy  of  my  book,  '•  The  Truth." 
I  am  preparing  a  new  edition,  and  I  have  but  one 
copy,  and  I  wish  another.  I  may  be  in  Boston 
shortly  to  see  some  of  my  old  friends.  I  have 
been  in  politics  since  last  June. 

Yours  truly,  Charles  Guiteau. 

The  pistol,  with  its  ivory  handle,  to  go  into  the 


148  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

State  Department  to  remind  future  generations  of 
his  dreadful  crime,  and  "  The  Truth,"  in  its  revised 
edition,  to  go  through  the  world,  "  to  the  end  that 
many  souls  may  find  the  Saviour." 

Side  by  side  with  his  preparation  for  the  assas- 
sination, his  revision  of  this  religious  work,  "  Tlie 
Truth,"  was  going  on,  and  the  government  brought 
Rev.  Howard  C.  Dunham  from  Boston  to  prove 
this  as  one  of  the  motives  of  the  crime.  The 
President  of  the  United  States  was  to  be  sacrificed 
to  give  an  impetus  to  the  sale  of  this  inspired 
work  !  Why,  this  is  in  a  dream  of  the  night !  No, 
in  the  broad  daylight  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Did  the  prosecution  forget  for  the  moment  that 
this  was  a  sane  man,  when  they  proved  this  mo- 
tive ?  I  would  not  be  understood  as  denying  that 
the  thought  of  a  great  sale  for  his  book  entered 
into  his  brain  and  was  a  part  of  this  whole  mental 
transaction.  The  government  was  perhaps  right 
about  it,  but  I  wonder  that  they  were  willing  to 
prove  it.  If  true,  it  is  the  old  story  over  again  of 
"  a  big  thing  for  God,  for  humanity,  for  himself ;  " 
but  tell  me  what  other  sane  man  in  the  world 
would  take  that  way  to  advertise  his  book,  or,  hav 
ing  taken  it,  expect  to  profit  by  the  sale  ? 

On  Sunday  morning,  June  12,  he  put  his  pistol 
in  his  pocket,  and  went  to  the  little  church  where 
General    Garfield  attended   divine  service.      This 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  149 

place  would  have  been  public  enough  for  his  pur- 
pose, yet  it  is  hardly  probable  that  he  had  deter- 
mined to  end  the  matter  thai  day,  but  his  idea  w;is 
rather  to  observe  the  President's  position  in  the 
church  with  reference  to  possible  future  operations. 
He  explains  how,  after  the  service  was  over,  he 
went  around  and  examined  a  window  to  see  how 
the  shot  could  be  fired  from  that  point  without  risk 
to  others.  If  he  did  not  go  with  the  intention  of 
shooting  him  that  day,  why  did  he  take  his  pistol  ? 
To  accustom  himself  to  the  situation,  and  to  be 
able  to  take  advantage  of  any  especially  favorable 
opportunity.  But  the  harder  question  to  answer  is 
this  :  Why  did  he  make  haste,  in  those  early  days  in 
July,  in  the  jail,  to  tell  the  story  in  all  its  details  to 
the  district  attorney  and  the  short-hand  reporter, 
who,  he  thought,  would  publish  it  to  the  world  ? 
Why  tell  it  at  all  ?  What  need  had  he  to  rehearse 
all  this  stealthy  watching  and  waiting  in  the  church, 
at  the  railroad  station,  —  that  following  in  the 
night,  which  no  eye  but  One  saw?  If  he  were  the 
shrewd  devil  that  they  called  him,  and  that  alone, 
would  he  have  shown  himself  so  eager  to  fasten 
this  cold-blooded  murder  upon  himself,  with  all  its 
damning  circumstances  of  the  most  deliberate  pur- 
pose, which  remove  his  action  as  far  as  possible 
from  the  so-called  irresistible  impulse  of  the  in- 
sane ? 


150  TWO   HARD   CASES. 

The  18th  of  June  he  was  ready  for  the  deed. 
The  President  was  going  with  Mrs.  Garfield  to 
Long  Branch,  from  the  same  railroad  station 
where  the  assassination  actually  occurred,  two 
weeks  later.  Guiteaii  was  up  betimes,  and  down  by 
the  river  practicing  with  his  pistol.  He  was  at  the 
station,  in  the  ladies'  waiting-room,  and  had  en- 
gaged a  hack  for  the  cemeteiy  or  the  jail ;  his  docu- 
mentary evidence  was  on  hand  ;  there  was  the  usual 
crowd  in  waiting  :  apparently,  all  the  conditions 
were  identical  with  those  on  the  morning  of  the  2d 
of  July,  as  President  Garfield  entered  that  la- 
dies' room,  with  his  sick  wife  leaning  on  his  arm. 
It  was  the  unconscious  pleading  of  that  pale,  sad 
face  that  prevailed  against  the  murderous  intent, 
and  the  human  pity  in  his  heart  stayed  his  hand. 
Have  we  the  anomaly  of  a  demon  but  imperfectly 
depraved,  or  an  insane  man  whose  impulse  is  still 
i-esisted  ?  He  went  back  to  his  room  and  wrote  an 
apology  for  his  weakness,  which  he  added  to  his 
pile  of  documents  designed  for  the  public. 

He  was  at  the  same  post  a  few  days  later, 
waitino;  for  the  President's  return.  There  was 
no  silent  pleading  of  that  pale  face  then,  unless  in 
memory.  To  human  eye  nothing  was  wanting  in 
the  occasion,  nothing  to  arrest  the  stroke,  but  the 
inexplicable  vacillating  of  the  man ;  he  said  "  it 
was  warm,  and  he  did  not  feel  like  it."     And    so 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  151 

President  Garfield,  unconscious  of  the  shadow  that 
was  in  waiting,  passed  out  from  that  jDortal  of  death 
again  unharmed. 

Then  there  is  the  evening  of  the  1st  of  July,  and 
that  stealthy  walk,"wheri  the  President  almost  kept 
step  with  his  murderer  ;  but  again  the  unseen  wings 
covered  him,  and  the  death  that  lurked  in  that  dark- 
ness passed  by.  What  availed  there  in  the  night, 
that,  alas,  was  powerless  when  the  destruction  came 
'■  that  wastes  at  noonday  "  ?  Had  it  been  revenge 
he  sought,  the  revenge  of  a  disappointed  office- 
seeker,  as  the  government  claimed  in  the  opening, 
what  an  opportunity  was  in  his  grasp !  Blaine  and 
Garfield  alone  ;  the  man  who  had  told  him  "  never 
to  speak  to  him  again  about  the  Paris  consulship," 
and  the  man  who  might  have  given  it  to  him,  "  if  he 
would."  Two  shots  from  behind  on  unarmed  men 
in  the  dusk,  and  then,  in  the  confusion  following, 
he  would  have  escaped;  the  curtains  of  the  night 
already  closing  around  him,  the  secret  of  his  re- 
venge hugged  to  his  own  bosom,  in  the  keeping  of 
himself  and  his  God.  In  his  cross-examination  on 
this  point  Judge  Porter  gets  him  to  say,  by  way  of 
excuses  for  not  shooting  the  President  that  night, 
"  that  it  was  a  very  hot,  sultry  night,  and  he  did  not 
feel  like  it  at  the  time."  "  If  General  Garfield  had 
returned  alone  at  that  time,  I  intended  to  remove 
him,  but  he  came  back  with  Mr.  Blaine."     But,  if 


152  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

that  was  true,  it  was  the  old  vacillation  of  purpose 
that  sought  out  excuses  for  itself,  for  barely  more 
than  twelve  hours  later  he  shot  him  side  by  side 
with  the  same  man,  in  broad  daylight,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  many  witnesses.  But  it  is  more  surprising 
that  he  followed  and  lurked  for  him  at  all  that  even- 
ing, than  that,  having  the  opportunity,  he  omitted 
to  shoot  him.  In  his  state  of  mind,  fully  deter- 
mined on  the  removal,  it  was,  perhaps,  hardly  pos- 
sible to  avoid  watching  and  following  the  President 
whenever  the  opportunity  offered,  by  night  or  by 
day.  Except  for  the  chance  of  a  contradictory 
action,  to  which  an  insane  man  is  always  liable,  he 
would  never  have  shot  him  in  the  night ;  his  man- 
ifestoes to  the  public  were  not  designed  for  a  secret 
murder. 

It  is  clear  that  he  intended  to  proclaim  him- 
self the  remover  of  Garfield ;  his  deed  a  neces- 
sity of  the  political  situation.  I  do  not  believe  he 
ever  expected  to  be  tried.  True,  he  had  carefully 
arranged  for  flight;  but  only  to  the  jail,  to  avoid 
the  instant  danger  from  the  mob,  which  he  knew-^ 
and  in  this  he  was  historically  correct  —  acts  on  the 
impulse  of  the  moment,  and  never  reasons  unless 
under  the  grapeshot  of  a  Napoleon,  and  then  it 
ceases  to  be  a  mob:  hence  his  letter  to  General 
Sherman.  His  manifestoes,  prepared  evidently  with 
great  care  for  the  public,  of  which  he  was  so  proud 


Tn^O  HARD   CASES.  153 

when  he  told  Judge  Porter  that  they  came  not  from 
Napoleon,  but  from  his  '•  little  brain  ; "  his  news- 
paper clippings,  which  had  wrought  so  powerfully 
with  him  ;  his  "  Truth  "  for  the  soul,  greatest  work 
of  the  age !  his  deliverance  of  the  country  from 
impending  civil  war,  —  all  this  he  was  most  anxious 
to  get  before  the  public  through  the  medium  of  the 
press,  feeling  that,  the  momentary  shock  over,  the 
cry  would  go  up,  "  Guiteau,  the  patriot !  "  and  after 
four  years  of  Arthur,  —  well,  it  might  be  the  presi- 
dency. Could  he  afford  to  throw  away  all  this  by 
a  midnight  murder  at  the  hands  of  an  unknown 
assassin  ?  If  this  dreadful  "  taking  off  "  was  re- 
ally so  patriotic  an  act  that  he  fancied  the  Deity 
prompted  it ;  if  it  was  fraught  with  all  the  bless- 
ings that  his  disordered  brain  imagined  ;  then  it 
was  fitting  that  its  consummation  should  be  in  a 
public  place  and  in  the  light  of  da3^ 

tJudoubtedly  there  is  some  posturing  for  "  noto- 
riety "  in  all  this,  as  there  was  to  be  pecuniary 
gain  from  the  sale  of  his  inspiration.  The  ego- 
tism of  this  man's  mind  is  such  that  "  I,  Charles 
Guiteau,"  is,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  alpha  and 
omega  of  this  whole  business,  to  which  the  setting 
up  of  the  dominion  of  the  stalwarts,  the  salvation 
of  the  country  from  civil  war,  and  the  dissemina- 
tion of  "  The  Truth  "  were  but  secondary  consider- 
ations.    But  consider  what  manner  of  mind  that 


15tl:  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

must  be  to  have  believed  all  this  with  or  without 
iho  egotistic  limitations.  We  shall  look  in  vain  for 
the  other  sane  man  in  America  who,  even  if  he  had 
reasoned  himself  into  the  belief  that  a  mere  party 
squabble  about  the  collectorship  of  the  New  York 
custom-house  had  endangered  the  peace  of  the 
Kepublic,  for  wliich  there  was  not  one  iota  of  the 
siiadow  of  a  foundation  outside  the  idle  brains  of 
those  whose  business  is  the  manufacture  of  news- 
paper sensations,  and  they,  in  their  wildest  talk, 
did  not  go  beyond  hinting  a  probable  rupture  in 
the  Republican  party,  which  is  quite  anotlier  mat- 
ter from  the  dismemberment  of  the  Republic.  But, 
granting  that  one  sane  man  might  be  found  to 
accept  this,  could  he  for  a  moment  believe  that  if, 
to  right  matters,  he  deliberately  proceeded  to  take 
the  life  of  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation  by 
assassination  he  would,  as  soon  as  the  first  shock 
of  the  crime  was  over,  be  recognized  as  a  patriot, 
protected  by  the  President  his  crime  had  elevated, 
and  be  honored  with  office,  or  at  least  by  the  ap- 
proval of  all  good  and  loyal  citizens  ?  This  man 
believed  this,  and,  believing,  staked  his  life  on  it; 
hence  he  says,  again  and  again,  "  The  American 
people  have  sometiiing  to  say  about  this." 

Nothino;  outward  foreshadowed  the  event.  Rush 
R.  Shippen,  D.  D.,  a  clergyman  of  Washington, 
chanced  to  have  a  casual  acquaintance  with  Gui 


rn^O  HARD   CASES.  155 

teau,  boarding  at  the  same  place  daring  the  month 
of  June,  exactly  covering  the  time  when,  having 
decided  on  the  assassination,  he  was  watching  for 
an  oj)portunity  to  carry  his  design  into  effect.  He 
had  remarked  nothing  very  peculiar  about  Guiteau, 
nothing  tliat  raised  the  question  of  his  sanity  to  his 
mind.  His  conversations,  with  one  exception,  were, 
at  the  table,  of  the  dead-lock  at  Albany,  of  their 
common  acquaintance  at  Chicago,  and  of  the  revi- 
sion of  the  New  Testament.  The  doctor  says, 
*'  We  ate  together  three  times  a  day  during  the 
month.  I  was  not  absent  a  day,  and  I  think  he 
was  no":."  Singular  man,  who  never  missed  a 
meal  or  betrayed  any  anxiety  of  countenance  or 
manner  in  that  month  of  June,  when  he  twice 
waited  at  the  station  to  assassinate  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  once  reconnoitred  his 
church  for  the  same  jDurpose.  Dr.  Shippen's  only 
conversation  with  him,  except  at  the  table,  was  in 
his  own  room,  he  having  stepped  in  one  Sunday 
afternoon  to  borrow  a  knife  to  sharpen  his  pencil, 
with  which  perhaps  to  put  a  finishing  touch  to  his 
revision  of  the  "Truth"  or  draft  a  manifesto.  He 
gave  the  doctor  an  analysis  of  Dr.  Paxton's  morn- 
ing sermon  on  Ingersoll ;  asked  the  theme  for  Dr. 
Shippen's  own  evening  discourse ;  said  he  thought 
he  would  attend,  and  did  so.  This  man,  plotting 
all  the  week  to  serve  the  devil  of  revenge,  if  the 


156  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

theory  of  the  government  is  right,  found  time  and 
inclination  to  go  to  the  Presbyterian  church  in  the 
morning ;  stranger  yet,  remember  the  sermon,  and 
attend  Dr.  Shippen's  service  in  the  evening,  where 
he  said  they  had  "  splendid  music."  What  "  music 
in  himself,"  yet  "  fit  for  treason  "  ?  What  was  this 
creature  ? 

Whatever  being  he  was,  in  this  frame  of  mind  he 
went  to  his  work.  That  July  morning  he  rose  be- 
times, and  before  breakfast  he  took  a  walk  in  Lafay- 
ette Park,  opposite  the  White  House.  He  says,  "  1 
think  I  read  the  paper  a  little,  and  enjoyed  the  beau- 
tiful morning  air,  and  rested  myself  ;  "  the  night  had 
been  "  hot  and  sultry,"  and  it  is  hardly  probable  that 
he  had  slept  well.  At  seven  o'clock  he  returned 
to  the  Eiggs  House,  took  his  breakfast,  went  to  his 
room,  secured  the  pistol,  wrapped  it  in  a  piece 
of  paper,  took  his  documents,  and  went  back  again 
into  the  "  beautiful  morning  air"  of  the  Park.  He 
had  kept  his  purpose  well ;  he  had  taken  counsel 
with  his  own  heart,  and,  as  he  says,  the  Deity 
alone.  No  other  human  being  knev/"  the  secret  he 
was  hiding  in  his  bosom  that  bright  July  morning. 
About  nine  o'clock  he  took  the  horse-car  from  the 
Park  to  the  railway  station  ;  he  engaged  his  car- 
riage for  the  Congressional  Cemetery,  and  then  the 
boy  blacked  his  shoes,  —  it  was  dress  parade  for 
him  that  day  !     He  went  aside,  examined  his  pistol, 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  157 

replaced  it  in  bis  pocket,  then  left  his  bundle  of  pa- 
pers at  the  news-stand,  the  "  Address  to  the  Ameri- 
can People,"  etc.  Afterwards  he  stepped  out  on  the 
street  a  moment,  walking  around.  As  the  time  for 
President  Garfield's  arrival  drew  near  he  moved 
about  the  waiting-room ;  as  he  said  in  his  cross- 
examination,  "  I  walked  backwai'ds  and  forwards, 
working  myself  up,  as  I  knew  the  hour  had  come." 
*'  I  had  all  that  I  could  possibly  do  to  do  the  act, 
any  way." 

He  had  not  long  to  wait ;  a  carriage  rattled  up, 
bringing  the  President  and  with  him  his  Secretary 
of  State.  They  came  in  by  the  ladies'  entrance, 
passing  close  to  Guiteau  ;  their  earnest  discourse 
was  the  latest  confirmation  to  the  assassin's  ''in- 
spiration "  in  that  supreme  moment.  There  was 
no  thunderbolt  in  waiting  to  arrest  that  hand,  when 
human  pity  failed  ;  his  weapon  w^as  out ;  two  shots 
in  quick  succession,  fired  from  behind,  and  the 
strong  man  bowed  himself,  and  the  culminating 
failure  in  the  career  of  that  miserable  viper  was  ac- 
complished. A  life  of  generous  purpose,  of  noble 
aspiration,  of  grand  opportunity,  one  of  the  foremost 
of  our  time,  going  out  at  the  hand  of  him  whose  con- 
tinued existence,  speaking  only  from  the  human 
stand-point,  —  that  is  all  we  have  from  which  to 
view  him,  —  had  from  birth  been  but  a  reflection 
on  the  wisdom  of  the  Divine  economy. 


158  Tn^O  HARD   CASES. 

Giiiteaii  was  arrested  at  the  door,  coolly  making 
his  way  towards  his  cariinge,  and  undismayed  by  the 
desolation  before  him,  but  blenching  at  the  cry  of 
"Lynch  him!"  that  began  to  rise;  he  was  hurried 
along  to  the  police  station,  and  thence  driven  rapidly 
away  to  the  jail.  The  by-standers  who  looked  on 
and  the  officers  who  arrested  him  agree  that  he  was 
calm  and  collected,  his  chief  anxiety  being  to  have 
his  letter  to  General  Sherman  delivered  at  once. 
There  is  some  conflicting  testimony  with  regard  to 
the  way  in  which  he  wore  his  hat,  whether  slouched 
over  his  face  or  not :  there  was  probably  no  conceal- 
ment. Out  upon  the  street,  in  charge  of  the  offi- 
cers, he  said,  "I  am  a  stalwart."  " Arthur  is  now 
President  of  the  United  States."  In  the  carriage, 
on  the  way  to  the  jail,  he  insisted  on  his  letter  to 
General  Sherman  being  sent;  said  again  that  he 
was  a  stalwart,  and  that  he  did  it  to  save  the  Re- 
publican party  and  to  save  the  country. 

The  documents  were  evidently  to  his  mind  a 
very  essential  part  of  the  transaction  ;  without  them 
his  motives  were  liable  to  be  misunderstood.  He 
kept  them  by  him,  adding  new  ones  each  time  that 
he  deferred  the  stroke.  As,  aside  from  "  The 
Truth,"  they  appear  to  belong  to  the  period  of 
time  between  making  up  his  mind  to  the  deed  and 
the  date  of  its  accomplishment,  and  were  doubtless 
prepared  by  him  as  a  complete  vindication  and  ex* 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  159 

plaDation  of  his  action,  it  seems  to  me  proper,  even 
though  they  are  already  well  known  to  the  public, 
to  reproduce  the  most  important  of  them  here. 
He  began  witli  the  "Address  to  the  Ameiicau 
People,"  as  follows  :  — 

Washington,  D.  C,  June  16,  1881. 

To  THE  Amkrican  PEorLE,  —  I  conceived  the 
idea  of  removing  the  President  four  weeks  ago. 
Not  a  soul  knew  of  my  purpose.  I  conceived  the 
idea  myself  and  kept  it  to  myself.  I  read  the 
newspapers  carefully  for  and  against  the  adminis- 
tration, and  gradually  the  conviction  settled  on  me 
that  the  President's  removal  was  a  political  neces- 
sity, because  he  proved  a  traitor  to  the  men  that 
made  him,  and  thereby  imperiled  the  life  of  the 
Republic.  At  the  last  presidential  election  the  Re- 
publican party  carried  every  Nortliern  State.  To- 
day, owing  to  the  misconduct  of  the  President  and 
his  Secretary  of  State,  they  could  hardly  carry  ten 
Northern  States.  They  certainly  could  not  carry 
New  York,  and  that  is  the  pivotal  State. 

Ingratitude  is  the  basest  of  crimes.  That  the 
President,  under  the  manipulations  of  his  Secretary 
of  State,  has  been  guilty  of  the  basest  ingratitude  to 
the  stalwarts  admits  of  no  denial.  The  expressed 
purpose  of  the  President  has  been  to  crush  General 
Grant  and  Senator  Conkling,  and  thereby  open  the 


160  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

way  for  his  renomination  in  1884.  In  the  Presi- 
dent's madness  he  has  wrecked  the  once  grand  old 
Republican  party,  and  for  this  he  dies. 

The  men  that  saved  the  Republic  must  govern  it, 
and  not  the  men  who  sought  its  life. 

I  'had  no  ill  will  to  the  President. 

This  is  not  murder.  It  is  a  political  necessity. 
It  will  make  my  friend  Arthur  President,  and 
save  the  Republic.  I  have  sacrificed  only  one.  I 
shot  the  President  as  I  would  a  rebel,  if  I  saw 
him  pulling  down  the  American  flag.  I  leave  my 
justification  to  God  and  the  American  people. 

I  expect  President  Arthur  and  Senator  Conkling 
will  give  the  nation  the  finest  administration  it  has 
ever  had.  They  are  honest,  and  have  plenty  of 
brains  and  experience.  Charles  Guiteau. 

Two  days  later  he  added  :  — 

Washington,  Saturday  Evening, 
June  18,  1881. 

I  intended  to  remove  the  President  this  morn- 
ing at  the  depot,  as  he  took  the  cars  for  Long 
Branch  ;  but  Mrs.  Garfield  looked  so  thin  and  clung 
so  tenderly  to  the  President's  arm,  my  Jieart  failed 
me  to  part  them,  and  I  decided  to  take  him  alone. 
It  will  be  no  worse  for  Mrs.  Garfield  to  part  with 
her  husband  this  way  than  by  natural  death.  He 
is  liable  to  go  at  any  time,  any  way.  C.  G. 


TWO   HARD   CASES.  161 

To  Byrox  Andrews  and  his  Co-Journalists  : 

I  have  just  shot  the  President. 

His  death  was  a  political  necessity,  because  he 
proved  a  traitor  to  the  men  that  made  him,  and 
thereby  imperiled  the  life  of  the  Republic.  I  am 
a  lawyer,  theologian,  and  politician.  I  am  a  stal- 
wart of  the  stalwarts.  I  was  with  General  Grant 
and  the  rest  of  our  men  in  New  York  during  the 
canvass. 

I  have  some  papers  for  the  press. 

I  am  going  to  the  jail. 

You  and  your  friends  can  see  them  there. 

June,  1881.  ChARLES  GuiTEAU. 

Washixgton,  Monday,  June  20,  1881. 

The  President's  nomination  was  an  act  of  God. 

His  election  was  an  act  of  God. 

His  removal  is  an  act  of  God's. 

(These  three  specific  acts  of  the  Deity  may  fur- 
nish the  clergy  with  a  text.) 

I  am  clear  in  my  purpose  to  remove  the  Presi- 
dent. Two  points  will  be  accomjilished.  It  will 
save  the  Republic  and  create  a  demand  for  my 
book,  '•  The  Truth."  See  page  10.  This  book  was 
not  written  for  money.  It  was  written  to  save  souls. 
In  order  to  attract  public  attention  the  book  needs 
the  notice  the  President's  removal  will  give  it. 

C.  G. 
11 


162  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

For  Mr.  Prestox:  — 

Please  mail  this  to  the  "  Herald."  They  know 
me,  and  may  wish  to  publish  it.  C.  G. 

The  last  was  wrapped  around  a  copy  of  "  The 
Truth."  There  was  also  among  these  papers  a 
kind  of  running  commentary  on  this  volume,  "  The 
Truth,"  signed  ''  C.  G."  It  is  made  up  of  notices 
of  the  work  that  had  appeared  in  the  Boston  papers, 
together  with  suggestions  of  his  own  ;  among  them 
he  says,  "  This  book  cost  me  trouble  enough,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  but  it  is  official.  It  was  written  in 
sections,  as  I  had  light,  covering  a  period  of  nearly 
five  years."  There  is  besides  a  note  to  the  "  New 
York  Herald,"  giving  leave  to  print  the  entire 
book,  if  they  wish.  He  suggests  "  to  print  one  or 
two  sections  a  day."  There  was  with  these  papers 
a  copy,  on  the  back  of  a  telegraph  blank,  of  the 
Sherman  letter :  — 

June  27. 

To  General  Sherman  :  — 

I  have  just  shot  the  President. 

I  shot  him  several  times,  as  I  wished  him  to  go 
as  easily  as  possible. 

His  death  was  a  political  necessity. 

I  am  a  lawyer,  theologian,  politician. 

I  am  a  stalwart  of  the  stalwarts. 

I  was  with  General  Grant  and  the  rest  of  our 


TWO   HARD    CASES.  163 

men  in  New  York  during  the  canvass.  I  am  going 
to  the  jail.  Please  order  out  your  troops  and  take 
possession  of  the  jail  at  once. 

Chaklks  Guiteau. 

One  paper  bears  date  of  the  day  of  the  assassi- 
nation, though  he  told  General  Reynolds  that  it 
was  actually  written  on  the  day  before ;  it.  is  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

"VVashixgtox,  July  2,  1881. 

To  THE  White  House  :  — 

The  President's  tragic  death  was  a  sad  necessity, 
but  it  will  unite  the  Republican  party  and  save  the 
Republic.  Life  is  a  fleeting  dream,  and  it  matters 
little  when  one  goes.  A  human  life  is  of  small 
value.  During  the  war  thousands  of  brave  boys 
went  down  without  a  tear.  I  presume  the  Presi- 
dent was  a  Christian,  and  that  he  will  be  happier  in 
Paradise  than  here. 

It  will  be  no  worse  for  Mrs.  Garfield,  dear  soul, 
to  part  with  her  husband  this  way  than  by  natural 
death.     He  is  liable  to  go  at  any  time,  any  way. 

I   had   no  ill  will  towards   the  President. 

His  death  was  a  political  necessity. 

I  am  a  lawyer,  a  theologian,  a  politician. 

I  am  a  stalwart  of  the  stalwarts. 

I  was  with  General  Grant  and  the  rest  of  our 
men  in  New  York  durins:  the  canvass. 


164  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

I  have  some  papers  for  the  press,  wliich  I  shall 
leave  with  Byron  Andrews  and  his  co-journa]ists  at 
1440  N.  Y.  Ave.,  where  all  the  reporters  can  see 
them. 

I  am  going  to  jail. 

Charles  Guiteau. 

On  the  face  of  an  envelope  he  had  written,  — 

T  intend  to  place  these  papers,  with  my  revolver, 
in  the  Library  of  the  State  Department.  The  re- 
porters can  copy  them,  if  they  wish  to,  in  manifold. 

Charles  Guiteau. 

A  sheet  headed  "  Personal  Mention  "  contained 
a  brief  statement,  data  of  his  life  and  occupations, 
and  folded  with  it,  with  suitable  reference  in  the 
"  Personal  Mention,"  a  cop}^  of  the  ubiquitous, 
never-to-be-overlooked  pamphlet,  "  Garfield  against 
Hancock."  These  papers,  with  a  quantity  of  news- 
paper clippings  taken  from  his  person,  paragraphs 
violent  in  their  language  against  the  administration, 
make  up  the  sum  of  liis  defense  of  the  crime  which 
he  had  prepared  for  the  public,  and  which  he  in- 
tended should  reach  them  through  the  newspaper 
press  directly  after  the  deed. 

This  collection  will  be  viewed  from  a  variety  of 
stand-points.  Those  whose  business  leads  them  to 
look  over  the  effects  that  crazy  tramps  carry  with 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  165 

them  will  be  struck  with  the  general  resemblance 
which  this  defense  of  "  shreds  and  patches  "  bears 
to  the  contents  of  their  portmanteaus.  Those  be- 
lieving that  he  feigned  insanity  at  the  trial  will 
perhaps  claim  that  he  had  noticed  these  things, 
and  manufactured  his  defense  in  accordance  with 
that  manifestation  of  insanity.  But  it  nowhere  ap- 
pears that  he  had  had  any  opportunity  for  studying 
the  habits  of  the  insane,  and,  even  if  he  had,  that 
feature  would  not  be  especially  remarked  by  an 
amateur,  or,  if  observed,  considered  distinctive 
enough  to  be  copied.  I  think  also  that  most  per- 
sons who  have  had  personal  observation  of  Guiteau 
would  agree  that  imitation  is  not  his  forte  ;  he  is  an 
original,  wherever  you  may  class  him  mentally. 

I  have  styled  it  a  defense  of  "shreds  and  patches." 
Sandwiched  in  with  his  ''  Address  to  the  American 
People  "  is  a  copy  of  "  The  Truth,"  with  a  sugges- 
tion to  the  editor  of  the  "  New  York  Herald  "  to 
give  it  a  place  in  his  daily  issue,  "  a  section  or  two 
at  a  time."  A  memorandum  of  his  letter  to  Gen- 
eral Sherman  is  preserved  on  the  back  of  a  tele- 
graph blank.  Thought  is  scanty  and  variety  of  lan- 
guage wanting  ;  so  the  letter  to  General  Sherman, 
the  bulletin  to  the  White  House,  and  the  note  to 
Byron  Andrews  are  largely  made  up  from  identi- 
cally the  same  sentences.  His  texts  for  the  clergy 
are  not  complete  without  bringing  in  '•  The  Truth," 


166  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

and  on  another  sheet  he  has  copied  the  book  no- 
tices from  ohi  Boston  newspapers,  —  notices  which 
he  probably  wrote  himself  at  the  time  and  paid  for, 
or  omitted  to  pay  for,  as  advertisements  of  his 
"  Companion  to  the  Bible  ;  "  at  all  events,  whether 
he  wrote  them  or  not,  he  intends  that  they  shall 
'*  go  thundering  down  "  with  his  inspired  work. 

At  the  last  moment,  apparently,  seeing  what  a 
wealth  of  literature  is  liable  to  be  scattered  and 
lost  with  the  distribution  of  his  manuscripts,  and 
observing  "  Garfield  against  Hancock  "  protruding 
from  the  bundle,  he  writes  on  the  face  of  an  empty 
envelope,  "  I  intend  to  place  these  papers  with  my 
revolver  in  the  Library  of  the  State  Department." 
Could  the  egotism  of  insanity  go  further  ?  A 
pocket  crammed  with  newspaper  clippings  com- 
pletes the  picture. 

He  seems  to  me  to  have  honestly  prepared  this 
defense  with  careful  study,  with  the  idea  of  at  once 
placing  before  the  public,  in  the  most  terse  and 
vigorous  sentences  at  his  command,  the  facts  of  the 
political  situation,  the  necessity  for,  together  with 
the  reasons  that  to  his  own  mind  abundantly  justi- 
fi.ed,  the  step  he  had  taken, —  reasons  which  he  had 
no  doubt  would  at  once  commend  the  act  to  the 
stalwarts,  and  would  shortly  receive  the  indorsement 
of  the  sober  second  thought  of  the  great  American 
people.     This,   he   felt,   would    carry    him  beyond 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  167 

courts  and  the  forms  of  law,  and  place  assassin- 
ation in  such  a  cause  side  by  side  with  the  sacred 
right  of  revolution,  on  which  the  Republic  was 
founded.  The  conclusion  was  absurd  on  the  face 
of  it.  Where  the  people  are  the  source  of  power, 
regicide  would  be  suicide  ;  the  American  people 
would  never  countenance  so  monstrous  a  doctrine. 
But  I  am  not  arguing  for  the  correctness  of  Guiteau's 
views,  only  that  the  statement  of  his  view  is  the 
correct  one.  To  reason  with  Guiteau  and  come  to 
his  belief  we  must  have  his  mind,  the  only  one  of 
the  kind  in  the  United  States  ;  but  we  must  remem- 
ber that  he  communicated  his  views  to  no  one  else. 
He  read  his  newspaper  clippings,  feeding  his  morbid 
ideas  with  tho?e  wretched  husks,  and  then,  by  a  re- 
flex action  of  his  own  mind,  he  fancied  that  he  did 
commune  with  the  Divine  intelliijence,  mistakinof 
for  an  inspiiation  coming  from  without  that  which 
was  really  but  a  projection  from  his  own  defec- 
tive reason  and  disordered  brain.  This  "  inspi- 
ration "  becomes  secondarily  an  important  factor 
in  his  case,  and  however  widely  it  may  differ  from 
the  form  of  inspiration  that  is  now  and  then  met 
with  among  the  insane,  and  however  impossible  it 
may  be  to  show  with  any  exactness  the  limitations 
and  extent  of  its  control  of  his  actions,  we  cannot 
afford  to  ignore  its  existence  or  underestimate  its 
importance. 


168  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

We  may  consider  it  briefly  here.  The  education 
of  the  mass  of  mankind,  if  it  deals  with  inspira- 
tion at  all,  treats  it  as  a  thing  of  the  distant  past ; 
teaches  tliat  in  the  nascent  period  of  the  human 
race  a  few  holy  men  attained  to  that  nearness  of 
life  with  the  Infinite  One  that  their  ears  listened 
to  the  Eternal  Word,  their  eyes  were  opened  to 
the  Light,  they  saw  "  that  Life  which  was  the 
Light  of  men,"  and  they  wrote  for  our  instruction 
what  we  call  inspiration ;  and  now,  for  thousands 
of  years,  it  has  been  the  all  but  universal  belief 
that  direct  inspiration  is  no  longer  to  be  ex- 
pected, and  that  he  who  claims  now  that  he  hears 
the  audible  voice  of  God,  or  with  mortal  eye  sees 
the  Lord,  must  be  insane.  But  this  is  not  the  in- 
spiration that  Guiteau  means;  he  said  to  Judge 
Porter,  on  the  cross-examination,  "  I  don't  get  my 
inspiration  in  that  way."  From  his  childhood  he 
was  brought  up  to  a  belief  in  present  inspiration  ; 
it  was  the  doctrine  of  the  founder  of  the  Oneida 
Community.  Guiteau's  father  believed  in  it.  Gui- 
teau was  himself  converted  to  it  while  at  Ann  Ar- 
bor. He  has  always  spoken  of  that  conversion  as 
"  an  inspiration  ;  "  it  was  a  call  of  the  Lord,  not 
by  voice,  or  by  vision,  but  felt  in  his  heart.  We 
have  seen  how  it  changed  the  current  of  his  life, 
and,  false  though  it  was  as  a  matter  of  vital  relig- 
ion, it  has  to  a  certain  extent  continued  to  domi- 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  169 

iiate  his  thoughts,  if  not  to  reform  his  morals.  All 
along  conceptions  evolved  out  of  his  own  brain 
have  been  forces  in  his  life,  that  he  has  carried 
with  him  and  studied  over  in  his  mind  until  he 
has  convinced  himself  that  they  were  inspirations 
from  above.  We  speak  of  a  happy  thought ;  he 
says,  I  have  an  inspiration.  In  his  private  note  to 
President  Garfield,  May  13,  he  writes,  "  Tlie  idea 
about  '84  flashed  through  me  like  an  inspiration," 
—  it  was  a  sensation  to  which  he  was  accustomed. 
In  his  testimony  we  find,  "An  impression  came 
over  my  mind  like  a  flash  that,  if  the  President 
was  out  of  the  way,  this  whole  thing  would  be 
solved."  This  was  the  germ  of  his  latest  inspira- 
tion ;  as  he  says  of  it  in  his  cross-examination,  in 
May,  it  was  an  "  embryo  inspiration,"  which  seems 
to  me  a  most  accurate  expression  for  it.  He  further 
states,  in  his  testimony,  "  I  kept  on  reading  the 
papers,  with  my  eye  on  the  possibility  of  the  Pres- 
ident's removal,  and  this  impression  kept  working 
upon  me,  grinding  me,  pressing  me,  for  about  two 
weeks.  At  the  end  of  two  weeks  my  mind  was 
thoroughly  fixed  as  to  the  necessity  for  the  Presi- 
dent's removal  and  the  divinity  of  the  inspiration." 
"  That  is  always  the  way  that  I  test  the  Deity. 
When  I  feel  the  pressure  upon  me  to  do  a  certain 
thing,  and  I  have  any  doubt  about  it^  I  keep  pray- 
ing that  the  Deity  may  stay  it  in  some  way  if  I  am 
wrons." 


170  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

I  do  not  forget  that  this  is  the  testimony  of  a 
man  under  trial  for  his  life,  with  every  motive  to 
explain  away  his  criminality,  if  such  explanation 
were  possible ;  but  as  he  is  trying  to  explain  his 
inspiration,  and  as  his  statement  is  constantly  ex- 
plaining it  further  and  further  away  from  the  ordi- 
nary inspiration  observed  among  the  insane,  and 
allying  it  more  and  more  closely  with  what  we 
designate  as  mental  convictions,  rather  than  inspi- 
rations, I  think  we  have  a  right  to  assume  that  it  is 
the  truth,  and  take  advantage  of  it.  This  seems  to 
me  about  the  amount  of  it :  if  an  extraordinary 
suggestion  arises  in  his  mind,  he  is,  all  his  life, 
accustomed  to  challenge  it,  whether  it  be  an  in- 
spiration;  and  he  weighs  it  and  studies  over- it, 
whether  there  is  much  to  recommend  it,  what  could 
be  accomplished  by  it,  whether  it  is  the  thing  for 
him  to  do,  and  how  far  the  religious  element  of  his 
nature  is  involved  in  its  accomplishment.  The  last 
appears  to  be  the  distinction  that  he  draws  between 
the  Divine  inspiration  and  the  worldly  conception, 
as,  for  example,  between  the  "Inter-Ocean"  project 
and  the  "  Theocrat."  The  inspiration,  apparently, 
comes  in  to  confirm  conclusions  at  which  he  has 
arrived  by  his  own  reasoning.  Hence,  he  does  not 
put  his  inspiration  forward  in  his  defense,  left  for 
the  press  and  the  American  people  at  the  time  of 
the  assassination.     It  was  the  pressure  behind  his 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  171 

own  convictions,  but  it  was  no  argument ;  the  sal- 
vation of  the  Republic  and  the  Republican  party, 
—  this  furnishes  the  necessity  for  the  act ;  the  in- 
spiration is  to  him  to  do  it.  It  is  true  he  does 
say  in  the  Address,  "  I  leave  my  justification  to 
God  and  the  American  people,"  and  in  the  texts 
for  the  clerg}^,  '•  His  removal  is  an  act  of  God ;  " 
but  he  also  speaks  of  the  nomination  and  election 
as  acts  of  God.  It  is  right  to  mention  here  that  in 
the  comments  he  left  to  be  published  in  regard  to 
"  The  Truth "  he  nowhere  states  that  he  was  in- 
spired to  write  it,  but  he  does  say,  "  I  have  no 
doubt  but  it  is  official." 

The  prosecution  claimed  that  he  never  used  the 
word  "inspiration"  in  connection  with  his  crime 
until  July  19,  more  than  two  weeks  after  the 
shooting,  and  then  after  General  Reynolds  had 
acquainted  him  with  the  utterances  of  the  stalwart 
leaders  and  editors  in  detestation  and  abhorrence 
of  him  and  his  crime.  Kept,  as  he  had  been,  locked 
from  all  access  to  the  newspapers,  and  in  total 
ignorance  of  public  sentiment,  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  the  news  astounded  him.  Up  to  that 
time  he  had  felt  sure  that  the  stalwarts  would  at 
least  protect  him  from  harm.  Now,  learning  that 
his  papers  had  not  been  published,  and  feeling  that 
his  motives  were  misunderstood,  he  wrote,  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment,  an  "Address  to  the  American 


172  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

People,"  taking  the  whole  responsibility  of  the 
shooting  upon  himself,  claiming  that  he  acted  only 
from  patriotic  motives,  for  the  good  of  the  Ameri- 
can  people ;  as  he  said,  "  I  did  my  duty  to  God  and 
the  American  people."  This  was  on  the  18th  of 
July.  On  the  next  day  he  wrote  out,  also  for  pub- 
lication, another  vindication,  addressed  to  the  pub- 
lic, in  w^hich,  among  other  things,  he  says,  "  My 
motive  was  purely  patriotic.  Not  a  soul  in  the 
universe  knew  of  my  purpose  to  remove  the  Pres- 
ident. It  was  my  own  conception  and  execu- 
tion, and,  whether  right  or  wron^r,  I  take  the  en- 
tire responsibility  of  it."  Near  the  close  of  this 
paper  he  says, ''  Whether  I  live  or  die,  I  have  got 
the  inspiration  worked  out  of  me."  This,  the  gov- 
ernment contended,  was  the  first  time  that  any  one 
had  heard  of  the  inspiration.  The  defense,  believ- 
ing he  had  spoken  of  it  the  very  day  of  the  shoot- 
ing, asked  to  be  allowed  to  put  Brooks  and  Rath- 
bone  on  the  stand,  who  interviewed  Guiteau  in  his 
cell  the  night  of  the  2d  of  July. 

Rathbone  was  absent  in  Cincinnati,  and  only 
Brooks  testified.  His  statement  was  that  at  mid- 
night of  the  day  of  the  shooting  he  went  to  Gui- 
teau's  cell  with  Rathbone  and  his  (Brooks's)  son. 
Guiteau  had  retired,  but  raised  hmiself  up  in  his 
bed,  and  exhibited  great  anger  and  excitement  at 
bavins  his  rest  disturbed.    Brooks  does  not  remem- 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  173 

ber  that  he  said  anything  of  a  pressure,  a  divine 
pressure,  or  an  inspiration.  He  did  say  that  he 
"  liad  taken  God  into  account ;  that  he  had  thought 
over  it  and  prayed  over  it  for  six  weeks  ;  and  the 
more  he  liad  thought  over  it  and  prayed  over  it  the 
more  satisfied  he  was  that  he  had  to  do  this  thing." 
'No  doubt  Detective  Brooks  narrated  the  talk  sub- 
stantially as  it  took  place,  and  Guiteau  said  in  the 
court,  "  Mr.  Brooks  has  stated  the  conversations 
that  occurred  between  us  on  the  two  occasions 
very  correctly  indeed."  Yet  I  believe  it  to  have 
been  true  that  at  the  first  visit  of  the  detectives, 
the  night  of  the  2d  of  July,  he  did  say,  either  to 
Brooks  or  Rathbone,  that  he  acted  "  by  an  inspi- 
ration from  God."  At  an  interview  with  Guiteau 
in  jail  during  the  trial,  but  before  this  testimony 
was  introduced,  I  asked  him  who  was  the  first  per- 
son to  whom  he  had  mentioned  inspiration  in  re- 
gard to  the  President's  removal.  He  said  at  first 
he  thought  to  General  Crocker,  the  warden  of  the 
jail ;  but  after  thinking  the  matter  over  for  some 
little  time,  without  suggestion  from  me,  he  broke 
out,  impulsively,  "  Why,  the  very  first  night  I  was 
here  Brooks  had  a  long  talk  with  me,  and  I  told 
him  it  was  an  inspiration ; "  adding,  "  You  see 
Brooks  ;  he  will  tell  you  all  about  it."  The'  Bos- 
ton "Daily  Globe"  published  a  dispatch  from 
Washington,  dated  July  5th,  in  which  their  corre- 


174  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

spondeiit  stated  that  Detectives  Brooks  and  Rath- 
bone  had  a  conversation  with  Guiteau  at  the  jail ; 
and  the  correspondent,  going  on  to  narrate  what  he 
told  them  in  regard  to  the  shooting,  uses  the  exact 
expression,  by  '*  an  inspiration  from  God."  I  under- 
stand a  similar  statement  of  the  interview  appeared 
in  other  papers.  Now  it  is  easier  to  believe  that 
he  did  use  the  word  "  inspiration  "  either  to  Brooks 
or  Rathbone,  and  that  it  was  so  stated  by  one  of 
them  soon  after,  than  to  suppose  that  the  reporter 
put  into  his  mouth  the  exact  word  that  he  found  it 
important  to  use  two  weeks  later.  Guiteau  cer- 
tainly did  not  get  it  from  the  newspapers,  for  he 
was  not  allowed  to  read  them.  General  Reynolds 
showing  him  the  first  that  he  had  seen.  General 
Crocker  told  me  that  he  did  uot  remember  hearing 
him  speak  of  inspiration  until  after  General  Rey- 
nolds's visit.  Dr.  Noble  Young,  physician  at  the 
jail,  whose  official  duties  led  him  to  see  Guiteau 
nearly  every  day,  testified  that  he  had  a  conversa- 
tion with  him  a  few  days  after  his  entrance  to  the 
prison,  in  which  he  said  "  he  was  inspired  to  do  it," 
but  the  doctor  was  unable  to  locate  the  time  exactly. 
But  whether  he  made  use  of  the  word  or  not,  this 
seems  to  me  to  be  the  fact  about  the  inspiration  of 
Guiteau  :  it  was  there  all  the  while,  but  it  was  just 
the  same  inspiration  that  he  had  experienced  sev- 
eral times  before  in  his  life ;  to  his  mind  it  was  an 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  175 

indorsemeiit  that  the  Deity  put  upon  his  convictions, 
but  they  were  founded  on  the  necessity  of  tlie  po- 
litical situation,  and  without  that  situation,  he  says, 
there  would  have  been  no  inspiration.  Intellect- 
ually convinced  of  the  correctness  of  his  views, 
he  felt  a  pressure  impelling  him  to  act,  and  this 
he  styles  an  inspiration,  a  divine  pressure.  But 
when  everything  was  going  right,  as  he  supposed, 
and  his  "  Herald "  article  was  enlightening  the 
people,  and  the  stalwarts  were  standing  firm  to  pro- 
tect him,  he  says  but  little  about  the  Divine  press- 
ure which  of  course  was  over  with  the  act. 

It  has  been  somewhat  the  habit  of  his  life  to  omit 
the  Divine,  as  in  the  rough  draft  of  his  opening  ad- 
dress we  see  that "  Divine  "  was  overlooked  in  writ- 
ing, and  brought  in  later  with  the  caret.  Seeing 
great  possibilities  of  fame  and  political  advance- 
ment in  the  near  future,  he  is  willing,  in  his  ego- 
tism, to  take  all  the  glory  to  himself.  But  when 
General  Reynolds  opens  his  eyes,  and  shows  him 
for  a  moment  the  chasm  that  yawns  before  him, 
—  that  he  has  no  friends  among  the  stalwarts 
to  stand  by  him,  that  his  address  to  the  public  has 
been  suppressed,  and  that  the  American  people 
are  ready  to  tear  him  to  pieces,  —  then  he  is  will- 
ing and  anxious  that  the  inspiration  should  appear, 
though  it  is  clear  that  he  believes  the  political  sit- 
uation confirms  the  inspiration,  and  if  understood 
would  be  defense  enouoh  of  itself. 


176  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

He  is  like  the  mariner,  who,  when  skies  are 
clear  and  winds  are  fair,  omits  his  devotions  and 
half  forgets  his  Deity ;  but  when  the  tempest  falls, 
and  his  bark  is  drifting  helplessly  upon  the  rocks 
of  a  lee  shore,  he  is  on  his  knees  calling  upon  God 
to  help  him.  But  your  mariner  believed  in  God 
the  same  in  the  sunshine  as  in  the  storm,  only  his 
attention  did  not  happen  to  be  turned  in  that  direc- 
tion ;  and  Guiteau,  after  his  fashion,  believed  in 
his  inspiration  all  the  time. 

Guiteau's  inspiration  to  remove  the  President 
was  the  same  that  was  taught  him  in  childhood, 
that  he  afterwards  accepted  and  obeyed  when  he 
went  to  the  Oneida  Community.  It  was  the  self- 
same inspiration  that  John  H.  Noyes  and  his  fol- 
lowers believed  in  ;  they  were  not,  therefore,  in- 
sane, and  this,  then,  was  not  an  insane  delusion,  but 
a  matter  of  education  in  Guiteau.  Strictly  speak- 
ing, there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  insane  delusion. 
Insanity  is  in  the  man,  and  not  in  the  idea.  But, 
consider  what  a  terrible  power  inspiration  becomes 
when,  as  an  honest  belief,  a  matter  of  life-long  edu- 
cation, like  the  demon  of  old  it  enters  into  an  in- 
sane man's  mind  to  dwell  there.  Religious  fanat- 
icism is  an  element  difficult  of  control,  and  bad 
enough  in  a  sane  mind.  See  how,  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  it  sent  the  Crusaders  to  the  Holy  Land,  whit- 
ening the  "  via  dolorosa  "  of   their  pilgrimage  with 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  177 

bones  ;  how  it  roused  up  the  Turk  to  meet  them, 
courting  death  in  battle,  believing  that,  sword  in 
hand,  he  passed  to  Paradise  and  the  arms  of  houris. 
These  were  religious  beliefs  in  sane  men,  but  when 
religious  fanaticism  takes  possession  of  an  insane 
man  it  gives  him  no  rest,  no  peace,  until  his  dread- 
ful work  is  done. 

So  Freeman,  of  Pocasset,  prayed  God  with  his 
wife,  and  pondered  his  Word,  till  they  both  be- 
lieved what  was  "  accounted  to  Abraham  for  right- 
eousness ;  "  and  to  Freeman  came,  not  a  voice,  not 
a  vision,  only  an  impression  in  his  mind,  that  he 
must  offer  up  his  daughter,  that  his  faith  might  be 
manifest  to  the  world,  believing  that  God  was 
able  to  bring  back  life  to  that  cold  clay  on  the 
third  morning,  —  "  counting  him  faithful  who  had 
promised." 

So,  too,  William  Myers  came,  he  also  from  Illi- 
nois, a  prophet  in  the  spirit  of  the  Lord,  to  gather 
the  President  elect  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
He  came  alone,  keeping  his  own  counsel ;  no  one 
knew  the  errand  that  he  brought  from  the  Lord. 
On  the  3d  of  March,  1877,  he  went  to  the  Capitol 
to  study  his  position  for  the  morrow.  In  his  valise  ' 
was  found  a  ground  plan  of  tlie  Capitol,  on  which 
he  had  marked  the  spot  where  President  Hayes 
would  stand,  and  where  he  would  also  plant  him- 
self.    By  a  happy  chance  —  alas,  that  we  had  no 

V2 


178  TWO   HARD   CASES. 

such  second  providence  —  he  met  at  the  Capitol  a 
man  whom  he  at  once  recognized  as  "  Joseph  of 
Arimathea,"  whom  God  had  sent  to  assist  him  in 
delivering  his  country ;  and  after  going  with  this 
man  to  his  room,  and  carefully  closing  the  door  so 
that  no  other  human  being  should  know  the  secret, 
Myers  disclosed  to  him  his  awful  preparation  for 
the  removal.  He  was  a  dead  shot,  and  but  for  this 
chance  meeting  with  Joseph  he  would,  on  the  4th 
of  March,  1877,  have  driven  his  ball  home  to  the 
heart  of  President  Hayes  in  the  act  of  taking  the 
oath  of  office.  It  would  have  fallen  like  a  thunder- 
bolt from  heaven,  and  Myers  would  have  believed 
that  the  Deity  had  hurled  it  by  his  hand. 

Insane  delusions, —  they  are  only  in  the  alphabet 
of  their  knowledge  of  the  insane  who  do  not  un- 
derstand that  genuine  religious  truths  may,  in  the 
minds  of  those  bereft  of  reason,  become  clothed 
with  all  the  controlling  power  of  the  most  fearful 
delusions.  Not  homicides  alone,  but  stakes  driven 
at  cross-roads  stand  all  along  that  way. 

It  was  by  this  road  that  Guiteau  traveled,  and 
when  his  mind  was  once  made  up  to  that  which  his 
insane  reasoning  convinced  him  the  political  situa- 
tion demanded,  once  on  the  President's  track,  I  be- 
lieve there  was  no  escape,  unless  some  fortunate  ac- 
cident had  disclosed  his  purpose  ;  he  would  have 
shot  him  sooner  or  later,  no  matter  how  often  his 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  179 

design  might  have  been  frustrated.  He  did  not 
need  the  audible  voice,  the  vision  in  the  night ;  his 
inspiration  was  a  familiar  one,  that  he  had  tested 
before,  and  knew  that  whereof  he  affirmed  ;  yet, 
strange  contradiction,  worthy  of  an  insane  mind, 
each  time  his  inspiration  had  ended  in  perfect  fail- 
ure, while  his  faith  in  its  latest  manifestation  was 
stronger  and  blinder  than  ever. 

Twelve  hours  after  the  shooting  he  was  asleep. 
The  tempest  of  popular  indignation  was  rising 
without,  the  hearts  of  a  nation,  anxious  and  sore, 
were  keeping  vigil,  and  he  lay  on  his  pillow,  ap- 
parently asleep.  Whence  came  this  child-like  re- 
pose to  the  murderer  at  such  a  time  ?  With  the 
insane,  when  a  terrible  purpose,  such  as,  for  ex- 
ample, an  attempt  at  suicide  long  carried  in  mind 
and  brooded  over,  is  at  last  made,  there  is  gener- 
ally a  sense  of  relief;  the  explosion  of  feeling  is 
followed  by  a  calm.  General  Sherman  had  ordered 
out  his  troops ;  everything  would  come  out  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  inspiration  ;  he  could  rest  now. 
Perhaps  he  was  not  asleep  when  roused  up  for  that 
midnight  interview  with  the  detectives,  but  cer- 
tainly he  was  not  pacing  the  room  in  agony  ;  he 
was  lying  quietly.  He  was  not  feigning,  with  his 
expectations.  What  motive  had  he  for  feigning  ? 
After  General  lieynolds's  visit,  in  view  of  a  trial 
that  he  had  found  might  come,   Guiteau  did  con- 


180  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

sider  the  arguments  in  favor  of  what  he  called  legal 
insanity,  which  he  claimed  at  the  trial ;  but  at  this 
time  he  would  not  willingly  have  allowed  the  ques- 
tion of  his  sanity  to  cast  a  cloud  over  his  future 
prospects  for  the  presidency.  He  said  to  General 
Reynolds  on  the  18th  of  July,  after  reading  the 
published  interview  with  General  Logan,  "  The 
idea  of  General  Logan  saying  I  am  insane  !  I  am 
not  more  insane  than  he  is."  Later,  in  September, 
he  told  me  that,  while  his  defense  would  be  legal 
insanity,  he  did  not  believe  that  he  was  insane. 
When,  a  day  or  two  afterwards,  he  found  I  was 
not  a  judge,  as  he  had  supposed,  but  a  physician  to 
the  insane,  he  said  to  me,  "  Doctor,  I  told  you  I 
did  not  believe  I  was  insane,  and  I  told  you  the 
truth,  but  there  are  plenty  of  people  who  do.  There 
is  my  sister,  who  thinks  so."  No,  this  man  was  not 
feigning  insanity;  his  composure  was  the  mental 
rest  after  the  storm. 

The  warden  of  the  jail  told  me,  in  September, 
that  Guiteau  had  gained  flesh,  slept  well,  and  eaten 
well  all  the  time.  For  days  after  his  admission  to 
the  jail,  apparently,  his  only  source  of  trouble  was 
his  apprehension  that  the  President  might  not  die  ; 
for  that,  he  told  Dr.  Young,  was  necessary  to  con- 
firm his  inspiration,  Vv^hich  it  puzzled  the  good  doc- 
tor to  understand.  It  is  true,  that  directly  after 
General  Reynolds  had  startled  him  for  a  moment 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  181 

out  of  his  delusion  about  the  support  of  the  Amer- 
ican people  and  the  stalwarts,  he  said  to  him,  "  I 
am  glad  that  he  lives,"  though  he  had  previously 
seemed  disappointed  at  the  news  of  his  probable 
recovery.  In  my  interview  with  him  the  last  of 
September,  he  told  me  that  he  had  prayed,  if  it  was 
the  Lord's  will,  that  the  President  might  recover, 
but  did  not,  when  he  prayed,  think  he  would.  So 
far  as  human  eye  could  see,  when  the  news  of  the 
decease  came,  and  the  tolling  bells  communicated 
the  intelligence  to  the  assassin,  his  mind  experi- 
enced a  relief,  his  doubt  was  over ;  death  had  con- 
firmed the  inspiration.  The  hardened  criminal 
comes  to  take  everything  with  a  calm  indifference, 
but  this  man,  a  fraud,  a  shyster,  a  criminal  in  much, 
was  still  a  novice  in  murder.  Something  else  than 
familiarity  with  crime  has  given  him  this  wonderful 
serenity,  this  real  or  apparent  trust  in  the  Being  he 
claims  to  serve,  through  all  these  weary,  w^earing 
months  of  looking  for  the  end.  Viewed  as  acting, 
in  what  respect  would  he  appear  in  any  way  differ- 
ent if  he  really  believed  he  was  "  God's  man,"  and 
the  Deity  was  taking  care  of  him  ? 

He  is  content ;  he  has  finished  his  work.  I  have 
wondered  if  his  own  picture  of  St.  Paul,  in  "  The 
Tiuth,"  does  not  sometimes  come  to  mind,  —  Paul 
in  his  dungeon  at  Rome,  watching  for  the  Master, 
awaiting    the    end,  —  Paul  the  Apostle,  and  One 


182  TWO  HARD  CASES. 

greater  than  Paul,  with  whose  life  of  wanderiug,  in 
an  assumption  that  would  be  blasphemy  if  it  were 
not  insanity,  he  parallels  his  own. 

But  this  discussion  of  the  testimony  and  known 
facts  having  a  bearing  upon  the  life,  character,  and 
mental  condition  of  Guiteau,  though  very  neces- 
sary to  a  proper  estimate  of  the  man  and  his  crime, 
has  led  us  quite  away  from  the  court-room,  upon 
whose  scenes  these  outlines  are  based.  Returning 
thither,  we  may  properly  enough,  at  this  point,  con- 
sider for  a  moment  the  frequent  outbursts  and  in- 
terruptions to  the  trial  by  the  criminal.  In  my 
opinion  they  were  in  no  sense  the  result  of  an  at- 
tempt to  feign  insanity.  They  all  grew  primarily 
out  of  his  egotism,  coupled  with  the  delusions  which 
had  actuated  him.  They  showed  his  vanity,  his  self- 
ishness, his  entire  want  of  respect  for  authority  or 
the  sensibilities  of  others,  his  marvelous  quickness 
of  perception,  his  total  blindness  to  his  own  inter- 
est at  times,  his  keen  watchfulness  of  it  at  others, 
and,  with  all  his  wonderful  intelligence  in  some  re- 
spects, his  utter  inability  to  comprehend  the  grav- 
ity of  the  situation.  But  above  all  and  beyond  all, 
they  were  a  perpetual  proclamation  to  the  audience 
and  the  world  that  this,  "  the  greatest  show  on 
earth,"  was  his  show,  that  he  was  running  it,  and 
thai  he  was  the  undoubted  master  of  the  situation. 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  188 

Jt  is  safe  to  say  that  there  is  not  another  man,  sane 
or  insane,  in  America  who  could  duplicate  the  per- 
formance. 

The  case  was  probably  lost  for  the  defense  be- 
fore the  expert  testimony  was  reached, — indeed,  I 
hazard  little  in  saying,  lost  before  the  issue  of  trial 
was  joined ;  but  as  the  medical  expert  witnesses 
presented,  probably,  the  most  imposing  array  of 
physicians  familiar  with  the  treatment  of  the  in- 
sane ever  assembled  at  a  criminal  trial,  their  testi- 
mony comes  properly  under  notice  here.  It  was 
the  usual  sad  spectacle  of  scientific  men,  summoned 
not  as  "  amici  curiie  "  but  as  partisans  for  the  op- 
posing sides.  Here,  perhaps,  without  impropriety, 
I  may  say  that  it  was  by  the  courtesy  of  the  dis- 
trict attorney  that  I  was  invited,  early  in  the  case, 
to  a  seat  with  these  eminent  savants,  and  asked  to 
remain  through  the  trial,  as  being  myself  interested 
in  these  scientific  questions ;  and,  while  there,  I 
was  drafted  into  the  service  of  the  defense  to  re- 
spond to  their  hypothetical  axiom.  This  gave  me 
at  once  opportunity  and  excuse  for  being  present 
with  so  distinguished  a  body  of  experts. 

Mr.  Scoville,  having  no  doubt  himself  of  the  in- 
sanity of  his  client,  supposing  it  was  only  necessary 
for  those  familiar  with  the  subject  to  examine  him 
to  at  once  pronounce  him  insane,  and  therefore,  ir- 
responsible on  the  2d  of  July,  summoned  the  med- 


184  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

ical  superintendents  of  institutions  for  the  insane, 
as  well  as  others  skilled  in  the  study  of  mental  dis- 
ease, from  the  East,  West,  North,  and  South,  irre- 
spective of  their  individual  views ;  not  doubting  that 
scientific  men  would  go  at  once  to  the  bottom  of 
the  matter,  and  through  all  the  only  too  evident  de- 
pravity recognize  the  disease. 

While  this  was  very  fi-ank  and  honest,  and  con- 
clusively proved  that  he  believed  in  the  truth  of 
the  defense  he  was  making,  it  was  not  a  lawyer -like 
way  of  going  to  work  to  clear  his  client.  A  little 
consultation  with  any  one  familiar  with  the  latest 
phases  of  scientific  study,  or  the  peculiarities  of 
the  sane  mind,  would  have  shown  him  that  in  an 
obscure  case  like  this,  among  equally  scientific 
men,  very  different  conclusions  as  to  health  or  dis- 
ease would  be  drawn  from  the  same  mental  phe- 
nomena,—  those  conclusions  depending  largely  upon 
the  natural  organization  and  temperament  of  the 
minds  that  formed  them.  To  go  farther  than  this, 
to  point  out  what  these  differences  in  organization 
are,  would  be  obviously  out  of  place  in  what  is 
designed  to  be  simply  a  resume  of  the  points 
brought  out  at  the  trial.  It  is  enough  to  call  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  such  natural  distinction  ex- 
ists, and  to  say  that  it  is  a  difference  inherent  in 
the  very  constitution  and  character  of  the  mind  it- 
self, and  not  at  all  explained  by  the  artful  sugges- 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  185 

tion  to  the  jury,  from  Mr.  Davidge,  that  the  ex- 
perts for  the  defense  were  "  all  moral  iusanity 
men,"  which  was  not  the  fact. 

With  no  concert  of  action,  Avith  no  previous 
study  of  the  case,  unless  from  the  newspapers,  with 
very  little  desire  for  notoriety  gained  in  defending 
a  criminal  of  this  type,  these  eminent  gentlemen 
arrived  in  Washington,  in  answer  to  a  compulsory 
summons,  to  be  confronted,  if  not  confounded,  by 
this  anomaly  of  the  age,  and  were  said  to  have  held 
a  confei-ence  —  unwisely,  as  it  seems  to  me  —  on 
his  mental  condition.  But,  whatever  may  have 
been  their  individual  opinions,  — and  they  were 
all  men  able  enough  to  have  formed  and  main- 
tained such  individual  opinions ;  witness  the  pam- 
phlets of  a  number  of  them,  since,  —  it  is  clear  that, 
collectively,  they  did  not  come  up  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  defense,  as  will  appear  further  on. 

The  prosecution  did  not  thus  cast  their  net  into 
the  sea.  They  wisely  selected  Dr.  Gray,  the  well- 
known  expert  of  Utica,  whose  mental  organization 
and  personal  characteristics,  as  well  as  his  long  ex- 
perience in  the  care  of  the  insane  and  in  the  ex- 
amination of  lunatics  of  the  criminal  class,  have  ad- 
mirably fitted  him  for  the  position  of  medical  ad- 
viser and  advocate  which  he  occupied  in  this  case ; 
and  finding  from  the  doctor's  study  of  Guiteau  that 
he  was  and  always  had  been  perfectly  sane,  the 


186  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

prosecution  called  to  his  support  a  number  of  pro- 
fessors, prominent  in  their  different  sections,  most 
of  them  superintendents  of  hospitals,  men  of  the 
same  school  of  thought  as  Dr.  G-ray,  and  to  each 
of  them  a  special  field  was  assigned.  They  also 
received  into  their  ranks  a  number  of  recruits  from 
the  list  of  those  subpoenaed,  but  not  called,  by  the 
defense,  and  thus  entrenched  they  awaited  the  at- 
tack. They  had  also  this  marked  advantage  over 
the  defense,  that  the  wind  of  popular  favor  blew 
on  their  backs,  and  not  in  their  faces. 

The  defense  opened  with  Dr.  Kiernan,  a  young 
man  from  the  West,  who  was  formerly  connected 
with  the  hospital  on  Ward's  Island,  N.  Y.,  and 
v/as  now  a  practicing  physician  in  Chicago,  —  also 
an  editor  of  the  '*  Medical  Review,"  and  a  lecturer 
on  mental  diseases  at  one  of  the  colleges.  It  might 
well  be  thought  an  embarrassing  position  in  which 
to  place  a  young  man,  comparatively  unknown,  to 
open  the  medical  expert  testimony  of  this  cele- 
brated case,  on  wliich  the  eyes  of  the  world  were 
looking,  though  I  do  not  know  as  Dr.  Kiernan  felt 
it  so  particularly.  But  after  establishing  his  qual- 
ifications to  speak  as  an  expert  on  insanity,  Mr. 
Scoville  contented  himself  by  asking  him  a  single 
hypothetical  question,  which  assumed  that  "  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar  committed  the  act  of  shooting 
the  President  under  what  he  believed  to  be  a  Di- 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  187 

vine  commanrl,  which  he  was  not  at  liberty  to  dis- 
obey, and  which  belief  amounted  to  a  conviction 
that  controlled  his  conscience  and  overpowered  his 
w\]l  as  to  that  act,  so  that  he  could  not  resist  the 
mental  pressnre  upon  him,"  —  a  question  wdiich  I 
have  called  a  hypothetical  axiom  of  insanity. 
This  being  answered  Mr.  Scoville  turned  him  over 
to  the  cross-examination.  It  was  apparently  a 
pleasure  to  Mr.  Davidge  to  converse  with  this 
young  man.  At  the  second  question  he  drew  out 
the  fact  that  the  witness  did  not  believe  in  a  fut- 
ure state  of  rewards  and  punishments ;  and  though 
this  was  not,  strictly  speaking,  a  scientific  refutation 
of  the  prisoner's  insanity,  it  was  in  effect  to  make 
a  Philistine  of  this  witness  to  the  jury,  who  had 
stated  under  oath  that  they  believed  in  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Christian  religion.  Dr.  Kiernan  bore 
up  manfully  under  the  keen  questioning  of  the 
veteran  lawyer,  until  he  drew  out  the  further  state- 
ment that  five  out  of  every  twenty-five  persons 
that  one  would  casually  meet  on  the  street  were  on 
the  road  to  the  insane  asylum,  which  finished  this 
witness  with  the  jury ;  for,  as  Mr.  Davidge  sug- 
gested, it  would  land  two  of  their  number  there,  if 
it  were  true.  An  unimportant  non-medical  witness 
follovi^ed,  and  then  Mr.  Scoville  said,  "  Call  Dr. 
Nichols."  There  was  an  expectant  stir  and  a  feel- 
ing of  relief  in  the  court-room.     He  was  not  "  an 


188  TWO  HARD  Cases. 

agnostic."  Dr.  Nichols  had  been  for  twenty-five 
years  superintendent  of  the  hospital  at  Washing- 
ton. He  was  more  widely  known  and  respected 
here  than  any  other  expert  in  the  court-room ; 
probably  every  member  of  that  jury  knew  him 
personally.  The  judge  on  the  bench  had  been  an 
official  visitor  of  his  hospital  for  years,  and  if  he 
Avas  to  appear  for  the  prisoner  it  was  Hector  tak- 
ing the  field.  His  testimony  had  saved  Mary  Har- 
ris, on  trial  for  her  life  in  the  same  room.  And 
now  the  lawyers  of  the  prosecution  gathered  them- 
selves up.  In  a  few  words  the  witness  stated  his 
present  position  and  his  length  of  service  in  differ- 
ent hospitals;  then  he  repHed  affirmatively  to  the 
hypothetical  question,  and  as  the  whole  court-room 
was  waiting  for  the  real  testimony  about  the  pris- 
oner's state  of  mind,  anticipating  an  intellectual 
treat,  Mr.  Scoville  simply  said,  "  That  is  all." 
There  was  blank  astonishment  and  disappointment 
on  all  sides.  The  government  was  taken  entirely 
aback ;  they  had  no  hypothetical  question  ready  ; 
they  were  not  allowed  to  ask  any  other,  and  Dr. 
Nichols  left  the  stand  and  the  case. 

Drs.  Folsom,  Godding,  McBride,  Channing,  and 
Fisher,  in  rapid  succession,  answered  the  hypothet- 
ical axiom  and  sat  down  ;  and  this,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Spitzka,  who  arrived 
at  a  later  date,  closed  the  medical  expert  testimony 


TWO  BARD   CASES.  189 

for  the  defense.  It  was  a  complete  surprise,  but 
was  it  a  success  ?  In  my  ignorance  of  law  1  sup- 
posed that  it  was  merely  a  shrewd  move  of  the 
honest  gentleman  from  Chicago  to  confine  his  wit- 
nesses to  the  expert  opinion  on  a  hypothetical  case, 
and  then,  if  the  government  introduced  direct  testi- 
mony from  experts  in  regard  to  their  observatibn 
of  the  prisoner  since  the  2d  of  July,  to  give  the 
experts  for  the  defense  an  opportunity  to  testify  as 
to  facts  observed  in  surrebuttal.  I  now  understand 
the  real  trouble  to  have  been  a  lack  of  positive 
belief,  on  the  part  of  the  experts  for  the  defense, 
in  the  prisoner's  insanity  :  some  were  of  the  opin- 
ion that  the  man  was  sane,  and  so  testified  later  for 
the  government ;  and  those  who  doubted  his  sanity 
were  at  a  loss  where  to  class  him,  and  were  indis- 
posed to  create  a  new  form  of  lunacy  for  the  case 
and  call  it  Guiteauism,  nor  were  they  quite  pre- 
pared to  adopt  the  "  primare  verrucktheit  "  of  their 
young  leader  Kiernan,  nor  to  class  themselves 
among  his  five  by  accepting  his  ratios.  It  was  the 
old  story  of  a  house  divided  against  itself  that  came 
to  naught. 

Observing  as  a  by-stander,  though  called  upon 
as  one  of  the  "  posse  comitatus,"  the  hypothetical 
question  appeared  to  me  to  be  too  near  a  truism 
to  carry  much  weight  to  the  jury  ;  as  Dr.  Cal- 
lender  well    expressed   it   when  asked    the   ques- 


190  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

tion  in  his  cross-examination,  "  Under  that  hypoth- 
esis his  insanity  is  a  self-evident  proposition."  So 
it  seems  to  me,  although  I  am  aware  that  Drs. 
Worcester  and  Strong  were  staggered  by  it ;  and 
the  distinguished  leader  of  the  government  experts, 
after  bringing  all  his  erudition  to  bear  on  it,  did 
not  feel  equal  to  answering  the  question,  though 
the  objections'that  he  urged  to  its  answer  might 
impress  an  unbiased  listener  as  hypercritical. 
Then,  too,  Dr.  Beard  frankly  told  Mr.  Scoville 
that  he  could  not  answer  that  question  for  the  de- 
fense, but  his  mind  was  so  organized  that  he  would 
have  found  no  difficulty  in  answering  both  of  the 
hypothetical  questions  for  the  government  that  that 
man  was  insane.  It  is  a  mistake  to  confound  con- 
ceit of  opinion  with  strength  of  mind  ;  but  some 
men  are  so  constituted  that  they  cannot  help  it. 

The  testimony  of  Dr.  Spitzka  was  well  delivered 
and  highly  entertaining  to  the  audience  ;  I  think 
that  really  prevented  its  producing  any  lasting  ef- 
fect on  the  minds  of  the  jnry.  The  doctor  was  in 
court  after  the  issue  of  a  compulsory  process,  which 
the  counsel  for  the  government  evidently  believed 
was  done  to  heighten  the  etfect  of  his  very  positive 
testimony  for  tlie  defense.  He  had  already  criti- 
cised the  district  attorney's  conduct  of  the  case  in 
unsparing  terms  in  the  public  journals  ;  he  held  in 
perfect  contempt  the   line  of  experts  who  sat  in 


TWO  UARD   CASES.  191 

front  of  the  witness-box,  a  feeling  that  was  appar- 
tjntly  reciprocated. 

The  doctor  stated  that  he  found  Giiiteau  insane  ; 
'•'  the  marked  feature  of  his  insanity  a  tendency 
to  delusion,  or  insane  opiniou,  and  to  the  creation 
of  morbid  and  fantastical  projects,"  "  a  marked  im- 
becility of  judgment ;  and,  while  I  had  no  other 
evidence  than  the  expression  of  his  face,  I  should 
have  no  doubt  he  was  also  a  moral  imbecile,  or, 
rather,  a  moral  monstrosity."  He  had  decided 
ideas  about  the  "  monstrosity  "  that  he  was  ana- 
lyzing ;  he  had  his  knowledge  well  in  hand,  was 
quick  at  repartee,  had  an  assurance  that  was  all- 
sufficient  ;  he  had  met  most  of  the  "  bad  four  "  on 
previous  occasions,  and  was  not  afraid  of  them,  and 
he  rattled  off  his  testimony  with  a  volubility  that 
was  bewildering,  and  a  positiveness  of  assertion 
that  was  startling  to  science.  It  was  soon  clear 
that  the  cross-examination  was  going  not  so  much 
for  Guiteau  as  Spitzka,  and  the  result  was  a  brill- 
iant gladiatorial  contest  of  some  hours,  without 
discomfiture  to  the  witness,  who  left  the  stand  with 
the  general  impression  in  the  room  that  this  was 
an  "  agnostic  "  who  did  know,  and  what  he  knew 
he  knew  for  certain.  His  estimate  of  Guiteau  was 
in  many  respects  correct.  The  congenital  charac- 
ter of  his  case,  in  part,  is  *it  least  probable ;  there 
is  some  asymmetry  of   the  head,  but  that  of  the 


192  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

mind  is  obvious  ;  and  I  have  never  had  an  hour's 
conversation  with  him  without  being  impressed 
with  the  talk  as  that  of  an  insane  man,  though  less 
by  its  "  farrago  "  than  its  leading  ideas  and  general 
tone.  But  the  effect  of  the  solid  points  in  the  tes- 
timony was  lost  in  the  brilliancy  of  the  rejoinders, 
and  I  doubt  if  the  jury  got  beyond  thinking  the 
doctor  a  very  clever  man,  who  was  fully  a  match 
for  Mr.  Davidge. 

Drs.  McFarland  and  Beard  were  also  called 
later,  but  the  court  decided  not  to  admit  their  tes- 
timony. Drs.  Earle,  Kellogg,  and  Richardson,  sum- 
moned by  the  defense,  gave  no  testimony  in  the 
case,  although  they  all  examined  Guiteau.  Tliis 
completed  the  medical  expert  testimony  for  the 
defense. 

The  government  placed  on  the  stand  fifteen  ex- 
pert medical  witnesses.  To  Dr.  Fordyce  Barker, 
the  distinguished  professor  of  obstetrics,  from  New 
York,  was  assigned  the  delivery  of  the  definitions 
and  limitations  of  the  disease  known  as  insanity. 
To  Dr.  Noble  Young,  pliysician  at  the  jail,  was 
given  Guiteau's  prison  life.  To  Dr.  Loring,  tiie 
Washington  oculist,  the  ophthalmoscopic  examina- 
tion. To  Dr.  Plamilton,  professor  of  nervous  dis- 
eases, the  questions  of  malformation  of  the  head, 
or  other  possible  abnormality,  or  nervous  disease. 
To  Dr.  Kempster,  the  studies  of  cranial  asym- 
metry, drawn  from  the  conformateur. 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  193 

Most  of  these  gentlemen  also  testified  on  the 
mental  condition  of  the  prisoner,  as  observed  by 
tliemselves  at  the  jail  and  in  the  court-room.  Drs. 
Worcester,  Talcott,  Stearns,  Strong,  Shew,  Evarts, 
Barksdale,  MacDonald,  and  Calleuder,  a  number 
of  them  recruits  from  the  ranks  of  the  defense, 
were  expected  to  say  what  they  could  in  regard 
to  their  observation  of  the  prisoner,  and  answer 
the  two  hypothetical  questions  for  the  prosecution. 
It  was  reserved  for  Dr.  Gray  to  sum  up  and  close 
for  the  government  on  the  whole  medical  aspect 
of  the  case. 

This  was  an  imposing,  crushing  array,  and  as  I 
watched  its  unfolding,  and  listened  to  the  opinions 
that  were  presented,  I  could  not  doubt  but  the 
only  apparent  omission  would  shortly  be  supplied, 
namely,  the  notes  of  the  autOjDsy  and  the  micro- 
scopic examination,  although,  from  the  form  of  the 
insanity,  I  knew  these  would  add  but  little,  if  any- 
tliing,  but  that  would  vindicate  the  prosecution. 
To  attempt  to  reproduce  that  testimony  here  would 
swell  these  outlines  almost  to  the  bulky  propor- 
tions of  the  two  immense  volumes  of  the  stenog- 
rapher's notes,  and  would  be  wholly  unnecessary. 
Tliey  all  pronounced  the  prisoner  sane  on  the  sec- 
ond day  of  July,  1881,  and  sane  at  the  time  of  giv- 
ing their  testimony. 

In  a  strictly  medical  paper  it  would  be  interest- 
13 


194  TWO   HARD   CASES, 

in<T  to  trace  how,  throuo^b  somewhat  different  nieii- 
tal  processes  and  lines  of  inquiry,  all  these  gentle- 
men arrived  at  the  same  conclusion  at  last;  but  as 
Dr.  Gray  stands  at  the  bead,  and  went  quite  ex- 
haustively over  the  whole  ground,  a  brief  discus- 
sion of  his  testimony  must  suffice  for  our  purpose 
here.  AVitbout  intending  to  detract  from  the  merits 
of,  or  relieve  from  due  responsibility,  any  one  of  the 
distinguislied  experts  who  rendered  such  efficient 
aid  in  determining  tlie  full  mental  responsibility  of 
Guiteau,  and  so  securing  the  popular  verdict  in  the 
case,  I  feel  that  1  do  them  no  injustice  when,  as  I 
have  no  doubt  they  would  say  was  right,  I  accord 
the  first  place  to  Dr.  Gray.  He  was  called  upon 
by  the  district  attorney  to  decide  whether  this  man 
should  be  brought  to  trial.  He  made  the  most  ex- 
haustive preliminary  questioning  of  the  ci'iminal ; 
patiently,  day  after  day,  he  followed  up  his  motives 
and  hunted  down  his  delusions,  and  from  his  own 
mind  and  his  note-book  he  drew  a  careful  picture  of 
a  shrewd,  calculating,  designing  murderer,  plotting 
and  finally  consummating  the  assassination  of  the 
Pj-esident,  with  a  sane  mind,  a  clear  head,  and  a 
steady  hand ;  convincing  first  himself,  then  the 
lawyers  for  the  prosecution,  and  lastly  the  judge 
on  the  bench  and  the  jury  in  their  seats,  that  this 
was  a  bad  and  not  an  insane  man. 

From  what  we  have  already  seen  of  this  man's 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  19o 

life,  we  can  uiiderstand  that  to  do  this  so  that  it 
would  stand,  not  for  this  court  and  jury  alone,  but 
for  that  future  tribunal  to  which  we  believe  all 
these  decisions  will  ultimately  pass  for  review,  was 
no  light  undertaking.  He  deserves  great  credit  for 
this ;  he  must  be  willing,  too,  as  I  know  he  is,  to 
bear  the  full  responsibility  which  was  involved  in 
his  decision. 

The  testimony  of  Dr.  Gray  was  carefully  and 
deliberately  —  Mr.  Scoville  complained  that  it  was 
argumentatively  —  given,  and  was  in  effect  a  law- 
yer-like summing  up  of  the  medical  evidence  for 
the  government.  The  doctor's  long  familiarity 
with  courts,  as  well  as  all  phases  of  mental  disease, 
admirably  fitted  him  for  the  position  he  had  taken, 
and  his  well-chosen  words,  earnestly  spoken,  pro- 
duced a  j^rofound  impression  on  those  who  heard 
him.  He  spoke  as  fully  realizing  the  importance 
of  having  no  mistake  in  the  verdict. 

After  stating  at  considerable  length,  as  it  was 
drawn  out  by  the  district  attorney,  the  responsible 
positions  he  had  held,  the  honorary  distinctions  he 
had  received,  and  the  very  large  number  of  cases  of 
insanity  that  had  passed  under  his  observation  dur- 
ing his  term  of  now  more  than  thirty  years'  continu- 
ous service  at  the  State  Lunatic  Hospital  at  Utica, 
N.  Y.,  the  doctor  gave  the  following  definition  of  in- 
sanity :  "  Insanity  is  a  disease  of  the  brain,  in  which 


196  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

there  is  an  association  of  mental  disturbance,  a 
change  in  tlie  individual,  a  departure  from  himself, 
from  his  own  ordinary  standard  of  mental  action,  a 
change  in  his  way  of  feeling  and  thinking  and 
acting."  He  then  defined,  very  clearly,  illusion, 
delusion,  and  hallucination ;  classified  insanity,  on 
tlie  basis  of  the  principal  manifestations,  into 
mania,  with  its  subdivisions  of  acute,  subacute, 
paroxysmal,  and  chronic,  melancholia  of  all  grades 
and  dementia,  epilepsy  with  dementia  or  mania, 
general  paresis,  delirium  tremens,  and  imbecility. 
"  These  classes,"  he  stated,  "  embrace  all  the  pos- 
sible manifestations  of  insanity." 

He  drew  the  distinction  between  actual  disease 
of  the  mind  and  mere  demoralization  of  character, 
insisting  that  insanity  was  "  in  all  instances  the 
offspring  of  disease."  He  disclaimed  all  belief  in 
"  moral  insanity "  in  the  following  well-digested 
argument :  "  Moral  insanity  is  intended  to  signify 
a  condition  of  perversion  of  the  moral  faculties  or 
moral  character  of  the  individual,  leaving  the  in- 
tellectual faculties  still  sound.  Inasmuch  as  I,  in 
my  own  view,  cannot  conceive  of  any  moral  act  or 
the  exercise  of  any  moral  affection  without  an  in- 
tellectual operation  or  mental  action  accompanying 
it,  so  I  cannot  possibly  dissever  this  mental  unity. 
I  look  upon  man,  in  his  mental  condition,  as  being 
a  simple  unit;  that  his  mental  being  consists  of  his 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  197 

intellectujil  and  moral  faculties  so  united  that  ev- 
erything he  does  must  spring  out  of  them  jointly. 
Disease  is  a  thing  of  the  body;  a  sickness  of  the 
brain,  if  it  is  insanity.  No  physical  sickness  could 
reflect  itself  through  a  man's  moral  nature  only." 

Jiaving  tiius  exactly  defined  and  limited  his  insan- 
ity, Dr.  Gray  comes  down  to  the  case,  first  giving 
very  fully  the  detailed  account  of  his  interviews  witli 
Guiteau  at  the  jail  the  week  previous  to  the  trial, 
with  notes  of  conversation  then  held  with  the  pris- 
oner. At  these  visits  Guiteau  seems  to  have  told 
the  doctor  everything  he  desired  to  know  about 
his  past  life  and  liis  motives  of  action.  Much  of 
this  was  essentially  what  has  already  been  given 
in  these  outlines,  including  the  statement,  which 
was  first  drawn  out  by  the  doctor  in  these  inter- 
views, that  if  he  had  received  the  Paris  consulship 
any  time  before  his  mind  was  fully  made  to  the 
deed  he  would  have  taken  it  and  gone.  Another 
important  point,  I  believe  not  elsewhere  brought 
out,  tliat  he  said  during  the  two  last  weeks  in  May, 
when  he  was  deliberating  on  the  shootins^  and 
making  up  his  mind,  he  slept  and  ate  well  and  felt 
well ;  that  he  slept  well  on  the  night  of  May  1 6, 
after  the  inception  of  the  idea;  also,  that  his  defense 
would  be  legal  insanity.  He  said,  "  I  knew  from 
the  time  I  conceived  the  act,  if  I  could  establish 
the  act  before  a  jury  that  I  believed   the  killing 


198  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

was  ail  inspired  act,  I  could  not  be  held  to  respon- 
sibility before  the  law."  Further  on,  on  the  same 
subject,  he  says,  '■  I  cannot  state  just  wliat  time  it 
came  up  in  form,  but  it  was  latent,  as  a  part  of  my 
general  knowledge  on  the  subject.  I  want  you  to 
put  in  the  idea  that  it  was  the  Deity  ;  for  this  is 
my  only  defense."  The  matter  of  inspiration  Dr 
Gray  went  over  very  carefully,  showing  that  it  was 
the  inspiration  that  Guiteau  had  learned  from  liis 
father  and  in  the  Community  ;  and  in  the  matter  of 
the  second  coming,  that  the  ins^:)iration  was  on  the 
single  point  of  fixing  the  date  at  a.  u.  70.  Also 
this,  at  the  time  of  the  shooting:  "  Let  me  ask  you 
again  about  your  plans  for  personal  safety  :  you 
kept  that  in  mind  as  well  as  tlie  defense  ?  "  "I 
thought  it  all  over,  for  I  gave  my  mind  and  time  to 
it."  "  Why  did  n't  you  take  your  chances,  if  it  was 
the  Deity?"  "  With  a  mob?  I  knew  what  a  mob 
would  do.  It  would  create  the  greatest  excitement." 
The  doctor  learned  that  he  had  always  enjoyed 
good  health,  had  received  no  serious  injury,  and, 
aside  from  malaria,  had  been  well  in  jail.  There 
was  very  much  more  of  this  examination,  but  it  is 
perhaps  not  necessary  to  quote  it  further.  On  the 
strength  of  his  observations  the  doctor  formed  the 
opinion  at  the  time  he  was  making  the  examination 
that  Guiteau  was  sane ;  assigning  the  following 
reasons :  — 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  199 

*'  In  looking  over  the  history  of  the  prisoner,  as 
given  to  me  by  himself,  and  considering  his  phys- 
ical health  thron,i>h  life,  first,  I  can  see  no  evidence 
at  any  period  through  his  life  when  he  has  been 
insane,  or  has  had  any  symptoms  of  insanity. 
Coming  down  to  the  periodof  his  arrival  in  Wash- 
ington, on  the  5th  of  March,  he  was  in  good 
health,  and  he  came  for  the  purpose  of  applying 
for  an  office  ;  that  during  that  time,  down  to  the 
killing  of  the  President,  he  continued  in  good 
health  ;  said  he  had  not  even  had  a  headache  or 
any  evidences  whatever  of  any  phj'sical  disturb- 
ance. He  followed  up  his  efforts  to  obtain  an  of- 
fice, as  he  informed  me,  persistently,  and  in  the 
manner  [Dr.  Gray  is  something  of  a  humorist] 
which  he  himself  thought  best  to  secure  it,  by  per- 
sonal application.  He  claimed  no  inspiration,  or 
no  insanity  of  any  kind,  in  answer  to  my  questions 
touching  that  matter,  at  th:it  period.  I  took  into 
consideration,  in  forming  my  opinion,  his  statement 
that  this  inspiration  which  he  claimed,  or  press  of 
Deity,  did  not  come  to  him  at  the  time  of  the  in- 
ception of  the  act,  and  not  until  after  he  had  fully 
made  up  his  mind  to  do  the  act ;  also  that,  during 
this  time  in  which  he  was  considering  the  question, 
he  held  in  abeyance  his  own  act,  his  own  intention. 
He  controlled  his  own  will  ;  he  controlled  his  own 
thouglits,  reflections,  and  intention  to  do  or  not  to 


200  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

do  the  act,  pending  the  obtaining  of  the  consul- 
ship. And  the  presence  in  him  of  reason,  judg- 
ment, reflection,  and  self-control  in  regard  to  his 
act  controlled  me  in  forming  my  opinion ;  also, 
the  fact  that  he  controlled  himself  as  to  the  time 
in  which  he  should  do  this  act  of  violence :  all  of 
which,  in  the  light  of  my  experience  with  insane 
persons  who  have  the  delusion  that  they  are  con- 
trolled, or  directed,  or  commanded,  or  inspired  by 
the  Almighty,  would  be  entirely  inconsistent.  Such 
self-control,  self-direction,  and  self-guidance  is  an- 
tagonistic to  anything  I  have  ever  seen  in  my  per- 
sonal experience  in  connection  with  the  insane, 
having  such  a  delusion  as  a  command  of  God,  or  a 
pressure  of  God  upon  them,  or  an  Inspiration.  I 
took  into  consideration,  also,  in  that  same  connec- 
tion, the  fact  of  his  providing  carefully  for  his  own 
safety  and  protection  after  the  act,  —  preparing  be- 
forehand, before  he  had  committed  the  act,  deliber- 
ately, for  his  own  preservation.  In  the  light  of 
my  experience  with  insane  persons  of  that  class, 
laboring  under  such  insane  delusions,  there  would 
be  no  preparation  for  personal  safety,  and  no 
til  ought  of  personal  safety. 

"  Also,  the  fact  that  he  stated  to  me  that  he  rec- 
ognized his  mental  condition  as  one  of  insanity  ; 
that  he  recognized  this  which  he  claimed  as  insanity 
under  the  terms  of  pressure  of  the  Deity  and  in- 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  201 

spiration  beforehand  ;  and  he  stated  to  me  that  he 
had  looked  further  into  that  matter,  and  had  con- 
sidered in  connection  witli  it  that  it  was  a  defense, 
and  a  defense  wliich  he  would  make  after  he  had 
committed 'the  act. 

"  Those  circumstances  and  statements  are  utterly 
inconsistent  with  anything  in  the  nature  of  insanity 
that  I  have  ever  experienced  or  observed  in  con- 
nection with  any  act  of  violence  towards  an  indi- 
vidual, and  especially  in  connection  with  any  case 
where  there  is  a  profound  delusion  that  they  are 
under  the  command  of  God ;  and  in  that  connec- 
tion, the  fact,  in  my  experience,  that  insane  persons 
who  have  the  insane  delusions  that  they  are  under 
command  of  God,  or  under  inspiration,  or  under 
any  pressure  of  God  to  do  anything,  in  eveiy  case 
have  been  the  most  profoundly  insane  persons,  in- 
dependent of  the  delusion  mentioned.  That  such  a 
delusion  is  itself  a  symptom  or  an  evidence  of  a 
profound  insanity  existing  and  pervading  the  whole 
nature  of  the  man,  the  con<lition  which  the  prisoner 
described  to  me,  and  of  which  I  have  spoken,  was 
entirely  inconsistent  with  any  such  idea.  In  con- 
sidering whether  this  was  or  could  be  an  insane  de- 
lusion, those  circumstances  were  taken  into  consid- 
eration, and  then  the  fact  that  when  persons  recog- 
nize a  delusion  as  an  insane  delusion  in  themselves, 
and  claim  that  the  delusion  is  evidence  of  insanity, 


202  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

they  cannot  be  insane.  That  must  be  assumed. 
No  man  who  has  such  a  delusion  and  is  insane  rec- 
ognizes himself  as  anything  but  sane,  or  recognizes 
that  delusion  as  anything  but  an  evidence  of  his 
sanity.  Whenever  he  recognizes  it  as  a  delusion, 
and  as  a  false  belief,  and  as  a  false  conception  in 
his  own  mind,  and  reasons  upon  it,  he  ceases  to  be 
an  insane  man.  I  took  into  consideration  also  the 
deliberation  with  which  he  proceeded,  as  well  as 
the  change  of  purpose,  from  time  to  time,  which  he 
manifested.  Those  are  the  main  reasons  which  I 
liad  for  considering  his  state  of  mind  previous  to 
the  killing.  I  found  him  in  jail,  in  good  physical 
health.  He  talked  clearly.  He  had  clear  views 
upon  everything  which  he  stated  to  me,  and  an- 
swered readily  and  quickly.  Tiiere  was  perfect 
coherence  in  every  utterance  which  he  made  to  me, 
whether  they  were  upon  any  general  subject,  or 
specially  in  regard  to  himself,  and  therefore  I 
formed  my  opinion,  from  all  these  reasons,  that  he 
was  at  that  time  a  sane  man."  The  doctor  then 
went  on  at  length  to  speak  of  cases  of  homicide  by 
insane  persons,  where  the  person  committing  the 
act  had  come  under  his  observation.  Heredity  and 
hereditary  tendency  to  disease  were  explained. 
"  Outside  the  direct  line,  no  heredity  is  to  be  in- 
ferred." After  answering,  in  regard  to  his  obser- 
vation of  the  prisoner  in  the  court-room,  that  he 


TWO   HARD   CASES.  203 

was  sane,  admitting  his  inability  to  answer  the 
hypothetical  qnestion  that  had  been  submitted  by 
the  defense,  lie  answered  promptly  the  two  hypo- 
thetical questions  for  the  government  that  he  was 
sane.  Finally,  on  being  asked  to  state  to  the  jury 
the  reasons  that  forced  him  to  the  conclusion,  as  a 
professional  man,  that  the  prisoner  was  sane,  he 
said  :  — 

''I  will  have  to  include  the  general  reasons  that 
I  have  already  given  in  regard  to  his  condition,  and 
the  additional  fact  that  in  the  entire  hypothetical 
case,  which  is  presented  as  a  whole,  or  as  to  any  of 
its  parts,  there  are  no  evidences  of  any  insanity. 
Furthermore,  in  observing  the  conduct  and  speech 
of  the  prisoner  in  the  court-room  during  the  trial, 
his  frequent  interruptions,  urging  that  he  was  in- 
sane, that  this  was  a  pressure  of  the  Deity,  that  the 
responsibility  was  on  the  Deity  ;  his  declarations, 
also  constantly  repeated,  that  he  acted  under  inspira- 
tion, that  it  was  a  political  necessity,  and  in  other 
instances  that  it  was  done  by  the  doctors,  —  that 
the  President's  death  was  due  to  the  doctors.  The 
same  thing  as  to  pressure  and  the  Deity  was 
pressed  upon  me  when  I  was  examining  him  in  the 
jail  ;  also  that  I  must  bear  in  mind  that  it  was  not 
his  act ;  that  it  was  the  act  of  the  Deity  ;  that  that 
was  his  defense.  The  fact  that  there  is  no  disease, 
that  there  is  no  trace  of  the  development  or  the  ex- 


204:  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

istence  of  any  delusion  or  hallucination,  —  all  these, 
to«"ether  with  the  reasons  that  I  liave  already  <jiven, 
siiow,  to  my  mind,  in  tlie  light  of  my  experience 
with  the  insane,  that  he  is  a  sane  man,  and  not  an 
insane  man."  In  the  court,  "  I  believe  he  is  acting, 
a  part ;  that  he  is  representing  what  he  thinks 
and  believes  will  impress  others  with  the  idea  that 
he  had  an  inspiration,  or  that  he  was  acting  under 
the  influence  of  the  Deity.  I  do  not  believe  that 
he  believes  any  such  thing,  and  in  that  respect  he 
is  feigning.  Such  conduct  and  speech,  in  my  judg- 
ment, from  my  experience,  are  utterly  inconsistent 
with  tlie  idea  of  insanity,  and  especially  of  an  in- 
sanity in  which  there  exists  any  delusion  of  a  com- 
mand of  God,  or  of  a  pressure  of  God,  or  of  any  in- 
fluence of  any  kind  derived  from  the  Deity." 

I  have  given  Dr.  Gray's  conclusion  in  full  in  jus- 
tice to  him,  and  because  I  think  it  states  very  com- 
pletely the  argument  on  that  side  of  the  case. 
The  cross-examination  began  by  drawing  out  from 
the  doctor  the  very  creditable  fact  that  he  knew  of 
no  case  where  he  had  ever  pronounced  a  sane  man 
insane,  or  an  insane  man  sane  ;  also  his  change  of 
views  in  regard  to  moral  insanity,  based  on  experi- 
ence. He  further  stated  that  insanity  is  never  in- 
herited as  a  disease.  The  doctor  did  not  make  the 
error  which  some  of  the  experts  did  in  saying  that 
no  disease  was  inherited.    He  said,  "  Kleptomaniacs 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  205 

a  word  used  to  express  thieving  ;  there  is  no  such 
iii>;iHiity.  '  Dipsomauia,'  I  call  it  drunkenness;  I  do 
not  call  it  insanity  at  all."  "  Pyromania,  incendia- 
ri.sm  —  crime.  All  tliese  terms  are  make-shifts  to 
secure  from  punishment  for  crime."  "  I  do  not  be- 
lieve in  emotional  insanity."  The  examination  vt'as 
continued  to  considerable  length,  but  this  must  suf- 
fice, for  the  growing  pages  of  these  outlines  warn 
me  to  be  brief. 

As,  listening  to  Dr.  Gray,  I  sat  there,  almost  the 
last  of  that  long  line  of  now  vanished  experts, 
who  for  weeks  had  occupied  those  seats,  I  could 
not  help  asking  myself,  Wherein  is  this  new  enu- 
meration of  "  all  the  possible  manifestations  of  in- 
sanity," with  its  convenient  eliminations,  to  be  pre- 
ferred to  the  old  ?  It  is  Gray  now,  but  it  was 
Ray  then  ;  and  I  wondered  if  that  mental  giant 
could  come  back  from  the  shore  where  he  has  so 
lately  gone  to  sleep,  if  we  should  not  hear  some 
such  vigorous  linglish  as  this  :  You  cannot  get  rid 
of  a  fact  by  denying  its  existence. 

That  is  the  difficulty,  as  I  conceive,  with  Dr. 
Gray's  insanity  ;  he  simplifies  our  psychological 
studies  wonderfully  ;  but  what  are  we  to  do  with 
those  "  minds  diseased,"  which  his  classification  leaves 
out  to  shift  for  themselves  ?  We  must  still  keep 
the  bounds  of  insanity  essentially  where  they  were; 
or,  if  we  narrow  them  with  Dr.  Gray,  we  must  set 


206  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

up  another  kingdom  in  disease,  and  call  that  un- 
soundness of  mind.  Yet  the  doctor  admits  imbe- 
cility, which  may  or  may  not  be  congenital ;  but  he 
shuts  out  idiocy,  fearing  perhaps  that,  admitting, 
he  might  let  in,  the  moral  idiot.  But  if  insanity  is 
to  include  all  the  clinically  observed  forms  of  dis- 
ease that  we  have  been  accustomed  to  class  as  men- 
tal, and  is  to  be  regarded  as  synonymous  with  un- 
soundness of  mind,  then  we  must  allow  that  this 
perverted  condition  of  tlie  intelligence  that  we  call 
insanity,  which  is  manifested  in  the  thoughts,  feel- 
ings, and  actions  of  the  individual,  may  be  depend- 
ent either  upon  organic  disease,  disordered  action, 
defective  formation,  or  imperfect  development  of 
the  brain. 

I  may  agree  with  Dr.  Gray  in  what  he  says  so 
well  about  ''  moral  insanity,"  and  yet  be  willing 
to  admit  that  those  cases,  of  which  the  books  re- 
cord so  many,  had  a  real  clinical  existence,  while 
holding  for  myself  that  the  disordered  mind  does 
not  cease  to  be  a  unit,  although  the  observed  man- 
ifestations of  its  insanity  may  seem  to  be  con- 
lined,  in  some  cases,  to  the  emotions ;  in  others,  to 
the  affections  ;  and  in  still  others,  to  the  intellect- 
ual powers.  We  cannot  deny  that  the  old  masters 
were  as  keen-sighted  observers  as  ourselves.  I  dis- 
like to  hear  drunkenness  called  dipsomania,  as  I  so 
often  do ;  but  I  do  not  therefore  say  that  dipso- 


TWO   HARD    CASES.  207 

mania  is  only  drunkenness.  It  mio-ht  improve  my 
standing  with  the  legal  fraternity  if  I  should  pro- 
I'ounce  kleptomania  only  another  name  for  steal- 
ing;  but  my  personal  observation  convinces  me  that 
the  insane  have  sometimes  a  disposition  to  steal, 
wliich  is  a  direct  result  of  their  disease,  and  for 
which  they  are  no  more  accountable  than  the  puer- 
peral maniac  is  for  her  oaths. 

And  now,  after  all  these  years  of  careful  re- 
search, and  our  asylum  reports  rendered  bulky 
with  long  tables  prepared  with  so  much  care,  in- 
volving inquiry  for  the  origin  of  the  disease  not 
alone  in  the  direct  family  line,  but  in  the  collateral 
branches  also ;  just  when  the  medical  profession 
lias  come  to  believe  if  one  fact  in  medical  science 
is  better  established  than  another,  it  is  that  in- 
sanity is  hereditary,  and  we  undertake,  in  the 
present  case,  to  look  up  the  hereditary  predisposi- 
tion, and  the  family  disposition  likewise,  we  are 
met  with  the  withering  conundrum,  "  Can  a  man 
inherit  insanity  from  his  uncle  ?  "  and  we  are  told 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  hereditary  insanity. 
Yes,  gentlemen,  I  understand  you  :  the  tendency  to 
the  disease  is  inherited.  And  so,  as  I  have  said,  in 
the  strict  use  of  language  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
insane  delusion  ;  but  we  know  that  language  is  sel- 
dom used  with  scientific  exactness,  and  no  one  is  at 
a  loss  to  understand  what  we  mean  when  we  say 


208  TWO   11 A II D    CASES. 

that  Jones  is  full  of  insane  delusions,  insanity  being 
hereditary  in  his  family.  Yes,  and  if  Jones  should 
marry  an  insane  woman  the  chances  are  good  that 
Jones's  son  will  turn  out  crazy,  no  matter  how 
carefully  he  may  be  brought  up  under  the  direction, 
of  the  most  eminent  psychist ;  for  that  little  germ 
which  you  call  "  a  tendency,"  so  minute  that  it  will 
elude  your  most  careful  scrutiny  with  scalpel  and 
microscope,  is  a  fixed  fact,  and  will  prove  more  po- 
tent than  all  your  theories.  Not  born  there  ;  de- 
velops. Ah,  how  is  it  that  science  shows  us  that 
sy[)hilis  and  small-pox  and  tubercle  are  born  in 
the  offspring  ;  that  the  infant  comes  into  the  world 
with  spina  bifida,  idiotic,  hydrocephalic,  acephalic ; 
that  the  child  is  blind  and  mute  and  misshapen  in 
his  mother's  womb,  but  is  never  insane  ?  Because, 
forsooth,  we  have  seen  fit  to  limit  insanity  to  disease 
of  the  brain,  and  disease  is  not  inherited  !  Is  it 
possible  that  in  all  these  years  it  has  not  been  the 
doctor's  lot,  as  it  has  mine,  to  be  consulted  about 
those  "  queer  "  children  of  insane  parentage,  who 
are  perverse  from  the  stai-t  ?  Will  he  say  that  the 
perverseness  is  only  "  badness,"  which  should  be 
whipped  out  of  the  child  ?  But  that  has  generally 
been  thoroughly  tried  before  the  physician  is  con- 
sulted. Heterodox  I  know  it  is,  but  observed  facts 
compel  me  to  be  heterodox  with  Prichard  and  Es- 
quirol    and   Ray,  with   Moiel  and   Griesinger  and 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  209 

Maiidsley,  and  I  know  not  how  many  others,  in 
recognizing  in  some  cases  a  condition  inlierent, 
born  in  the  individual,  and  not  a  result  of  educa- 
tion,—  a  condition  which  writers  have  recognized 
under  various  names  as  hereditary  mental  disorder, 
insane  diathesis,  insane  temperament.  But  tlie 
difficulty  is  not  in  the  nomenclature,  but  in  getting 
scientific  observers,  our  leaders  in  psychiatry,  to 
recognize  the  fact  as  it  exists. 

With  the  fundamental  position  that  insanity,  in 
all  cases,  presupposes  active  cerebral  disease,  and 
that  congenital  defect  can  have  nothing  to  do  with 
it,  the  doctor  comes  down  to  his  study  of  Guiteau's 
case,  and  finds  that  he  has  had  no  sickness  in  all 
his  life.  No  sickness  ?  Then  no  brain  disease.  This 
is  conclusive  if  a  man's  brain  was  always  open  to 
himself  to  see  whether  it  was  sick  or  not ;  but 
fevers  and  rheumatism  and  neuralgia  are  diseases 
that  a  man  knows,  and  remembers  when  he  has  had 
them,  but  this  sickness  of  the  brain  that  goes  along 
with  insanity  is  sometimes  such  a  little  sickness 
that  he  does  not  know  it. 

While  I  am  disposed  to  claim  a  congenital  origin 
for  Guiteau's  insanity,  —  for  T  believe  his  egotism 
and  want  of  common  sense  are  born  in  him,  —  I 
could,  safely  enough  for  the  argument,  abandon  that 
ground,  and  allow  that  the  change  in  his  views,  in 
his  feelings,  and,  in  a  measure,  in  the  conduct  of 
14 


210  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

his  life,  which  came  over  him  while  at  school  in 
Ann  Arbor,  and  was,  at  all  events,  the  develop- 
ment of  a  more  active  phase  of  his  insanity,  was 
the  whole,  and  then  ask  how  much  more  phys- 
ical sickness,  how  much  greater  change,  is  needed.. 
What  expert  in  insanity,  of  half  the  long  experi- 
ence of  Dr.  Gray,  has  not  seen  many,  many  cases, 
especially  those  where  hereditary  predisposition 
exists,  unfolding  delusion,  mania,  and  violence, 
even,  without  any  observed  bodily  illness,  other 
than  the  febrile  disturbance  consequent  upon  the 
excitement ;  and  where  the  development  has  been 
gradual  and  with  less  marked  excitement,  no  bodily 
illness  that  either  the  patient  or  his  friends  ob- 
served ?  How  many  such  cases,  become  chronic, 
are  to-day  busy  about  the  different  hospitals  through- 
out the  land,  with  never  a  dose  of  medicine,  or  sick 
a  day  in  their  lives  ? 

It  was  perfectly  legitimate  for  Dr.  Gray,  appear- 
ing as  the  medical  advocate  and  expert  for  the 
prosecution,  to  draw  the  strong  contrast  between 
Guiteau  while  claiming  inspiration,  delaying  his 
action,  holding  his  plan  in  abeyance,  changing  it, 
providing  for  his  escape  from  vengeance  at  the 
hands  of  the  mob,  reasoning  about  what  his  defense 
would  be,  etc.,  and  the  observed  manifestations 
in  those  cases  among  the  insane,  usually  in  acute 
or  paroxysmal  mania  or  melancholia,  where  a  sup- 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  211 

posed  inspiration  or  command  from  God  impels 
them  on  their  victim.  It  was  legitimate,  because 
Mr.  Scoville  had  set  tliat  up  as  a  defense,  aud, 
having  chosen  his  ground,  he  had  no  right  to  com- 
plain that  the  doctor,  as  an  advocate,  met  him  on 
a  field  of  his  own  selection. 

But  not  taking  sides,  appearing  only  in  the 
character  of  "  amicus  curiie,"  it  would  have  been 
his  duty  to  point  out  to  the  court  and  the  jury 
wherein  the  so-called  inspiration  of  Guiteau  —  a 
mere  matter  of  life-long  education  of  a  mind  vvhicli, 
sane  or  insane,  was  controlled  directly  by  the  po- 
litical situation,  and  if  insane,  the  insanity  was 
chronic  in  type  —  was  necessarily  very  different 
from  the  inspiration  which  came  as  the  control- 
ling delusion  in  those  acute  types  of  insanity  to 
which  this  had  been  compared  ;  and,  also,  to  show 
wherein  the  actions  and  reasoning  of  the  insane 
person  holding  such  ideas  of  inspiration  might, 
and  probably  would,  differ  widely  from  what  had 
been  observed  in  the  cases  cited ;  that  in  the 
chronic  forms  of  insanity,  such  deliberation  and 
arrangements  for  safety  are  by  no  means  unknown  ; 
and  that  a  so-called  reasoning  maniac  often  plots 
and  studies  and  arranges  the  minutiae  of  his  plans, 
until  he  startles  a  community  by  the  magnitude  of 
the  crime  that  he  has  secretly  developed. out  of  his 
delusions. 


212  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

In  Guiteau's  case  the  inspiration  is  a  fact  of  his 
education,  and  only  a  delusion  in  the  sense  in  which 
any  idea  of  an  insane  mind  may  become  delusive 
by  its  surroundings.  The  insane  man's  world, 
motives,  and  thoughts  are  other  than  ours;  and 
when  Guiteau  took  up  his  insane  view  of  the 
political  situation,  which  was  probably  his  con- 
trolling delusion  in  this  act,  he  then,  by  the 
reasoning  process  of  his  disordered  mind,  con- 
vinced himself  that  the  Deity  was  with  him ;  that 
his  inspiration,  in  the  sense  in  which  he  under- 
stands that  term,  a  pressure,  a  conviction,  was 
behind  his  view  of  the  political  situation.  Such 
delusive  ideas  are  not  as  clear-cut  and  satisfactory 
for  demonstration  as  those  where  the  Divine  com- 
mand is  spoken  from  the  air ;  but,  of  a  score  of  in- 
sane men  taken  at  random  in  a  hospital,  how  many 
will  have,  dissociated  from  all  other  ideas,  the 
clear-cut  delusion  for  which  you  are  seeking? 

Again,  when  Dr.  Gray  gave  that  powerful  sum- 
ming up,  namely,  "  Such  self-control,  self-direction, 
and  self-guidance  is  antagonistic  to  anything  I  have 
ever  seen  in  connection  with  the  insane,  having 
such  a  delusion  as  a  command  of  God,  or  a  press- 
ure of  God  upon  them,  or  an  inspiration,"  we  are 
certain  that  he  is  still  thinking  of  this  same  active 
type  of  homicidal  cases.  But  if  his  attention 
could  have  been  called  to  that  very  considerable 


TWO  HARD  CASES.  213 

class  of  the  insane  who,  under  the  delusion  of  a 
Divine  caniniaud,  or,  what  would  more  nearl>'  par- 
allel Guiteau's  case,  the  conviction  of  a  relicriou3 
training,  have  made  or  attempted  assaults  on  them- 
selves, who  can  doubt  that  the  doctor,  out  of  his 
ripe  experience  of  more  than  thirty  years,  would 
have  been  able  to  recall,  not  one,  but  very  many 
cases,  where  the  conviction  of  religious  duty  acting 
directly  on  an  insane  mind  prompted,  or  the  voice 
mistaken  for  God's  call  whispered,  to  take  cord  or 
knife;  and  with  marvelous  "self-control,"  with 
complete  "self-direction"  and  resolute  "  self-guid- 
ance," they  held  in  abeyance  their  act  and  their 
will,  wavered  in  purpose,  arranged  all  the  details, 
changing  the  plan  as  the  circumstances  may  have 
rendered  necessary,  and  at  last,  when  all  the  sur- 
roundings W' ere  favorable,  took,  or  attempted  to  take, 
the  fatal  step.  My  experience  of  something  more 
than  twenty  years  recalls  many  such  cases ;  and  had 
the  doctor  seen  fit  to  favor  us  by  opening  the  store- 
house of  his  memory,  going  back  nearly  ten  years 
beyond  mine,  T  am  sure  that  the  poverty  of  my  illus- 
tration would  have  been  made  rich  with  the  abound- 
ing resources  of  his  own.  I  anticipate  the  doctor's 
objection,  that  this  is  another  type  of  insanity,  and 
the  "  Divine  pressure  "  acting  in  another  direction  ; 
but  that  is  {jrecisely  the  point  I  have  been  tiying 
to  make  against  his  comparison  in  Guiteau's   case. 


214  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

If  that  argument  is  good  in    the  one   instance,  it 
certainly  shouhl  be  in  the  other. 

Once  more,  —  and  this  must  suffice,  —  Dr.  Gray 
says,  "  When  persons  recognize  a  delusion  as  an  in- 
sane delusion  in  themselves,  and  claim  that  the  de- 
lusion is  evidence  of  insanity,  they  cannot  be  insane. 
That  must  be  assumed.  No  man  who  has  such  de- 
lusion, and  is  insane,  recognizes  himself  as  anything 
but  sane."  Setting  aside  those  cases  where  an  in- 
sane man  feigns  insanity,  this  is  sound  argument ; 
but  it  has  no  application  to  this  case.  Guiteau  told 
Dr.  Gray,  — and  lest  he  should  forget  it  the  doctor 
wrote  it  down  in  his  note-book,  —  "I  don't  claim 
to  be  insane  as  a  medical  man  would  judge  what  is 
ordinarily  called  insanity,  but  legal  insanity.".  He 
said  to  General  Reynolds,  "  The  idea  of  General 
Logan  saying  I  was  insane!  I  am  not  more  insane 
than  he  is."  To  me,  that  he  had  told  me  the  truth 
when  he  said  that  he  was  not  insane.  So  far  as  I 
now  remember,  he  told  everybody  the  same^  story : 
that  he  was  not  insane.  But  he  also  told  me  and 
everybody,  told  it  with  the  confiding  trust  of  a 
little  child  to  anybody  who  chanced  to  ask  him, 
that  his  defense  would  be  legal  insanity,  going  into 
all  the  details  of  his  argument.  But  it  was  not  his 
belief ;  it  was  a  mere  intellectual  study,  foolish, 
crazy  enough.  But  he  never  pretended  to  believe 
in  it  as  a  medical  fact  ;  he  only  believed   it  would 


TWO   HARD  CASES.  215 

be  unanswerable  to  a  lawyer.  Poor  fool,  and  yet 
presenting  to  Dr.  Gray  no  evidence  of  insanity  !  I 
wonder  if  the  man's  conversation  with  me  could 
really  have  been  so  diiferent  from  what  it  was  with 
liim,  or  if  the  trouble  was  that  1  could  not  keep  my 
eyes  resolutely  closed  to  that  side  of  his  character. 
1  was  introduced  to  him  simply  as  a  friend  of  the 
warden,  interested  in  his  case,  and  I  warned  him  at 
the  outset  to  answer  no  question  that  he  did  not 
desire  to  answer,  nor  tell  me  anything  that  he  pre- 
ferred not  to  say  ;  and  then  that  man  went  on  to 
give  me  the  details  of  his  life,  the  minutite  of  his 
plotting  and  his  deliberate  crime,  —  everything  that 
ought  to  hang  him  if  sane  ;  told  it  without  urging, 
—  told  it  for  the  most  part  with  the  calm  apparent 
impartiality  with  which  he  might  have  described  a 
scene  where  he  was  merely  a  spectator.  I  knew 
he  had  told  all  this  to  the  district  attorney  with 
the  same  detail  before  ;  but  then,  as  he  conveyed 
to  me  in  a  half  whisper,  that  he  might  not  be  heard 
in  the  adjoining  room,  he  believed  Colonel  Cork- 
hill  was  a  stalwart.  I  think  he  really  wanted  to 
tell  it,  to  have  me,  to  have  the  world,  know  just 
how  it  was.  I  was  a  stranger  to  him,  but  if  you 
sit  down  with  an  insane  man  whom  you  never  saw 
until  that  moment,  and  engage  him  in  conversation, 
and  show  an  interest  in  what  he  says,  as  a  rule  he 
will  go  on  and  tell  you  the  whole  story  which  is  so 


216  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

important  from  his  stiiiid-poiiit.     Like  the  wedding 

o"uest  in   the  "  Ancient  Mariner,"  unless  you  are 

rude,  you  "cannot  choose  but  hear,"  and  it  seems 

as  though  it  was  true  of  the  insane  man  as  of  that 

Ancient  Mariner,  — 

"  And  till  my  ghastly  tale  is  told 
This  heart  Avithiu  me  burns." 

Altogether  I  must  have  talked,  or  for  the  most 
part  listened,  to  Guiteau  for  more  than  six  hours. 
It  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  heard  it  before,  not  the 
identical  story,  but  the  talk  sounded  strangely  fa- 
miliar. At  that  time,  in  September,  I  think  he 
had  come  to  expect  his  trial  would  take  place,  but 
the  plea  of  legal  insanity  would  provide  for  that. 
Of  course  the  trial  was  a  thing  to  be  met  and  got 
over  some  way  ;  but,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  a  matter 
of  much  greater  importance  to  his  mind  was  his 
vindication  with  the  American  people.  The  suffer- 
ings of  the  President  in  his  lingering  death  had 
touched  the  hearts  and  sympathies  of  everybody, 
but  now,  after  they  read  his  statement  in  the  New 
York  "  Herald,"  they  would  see  that  he  had  no  per- 
sonal ill  will  towards  the  President ;  would  recog- 
nize the  political  situation,  and  understand  the  ne- 
cessity for  his  removal  and  the  insiDiration.  He  was 
a  theologian  and  a  politician.  He  said  he  was 
"  God's  man,"  and  he  showed  that  he  felt,  though 
he  did  not  say  it  to  me,  that  he  was  also  the  great 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  217 

American  patriot.  He  said  I  should  see  a  change  in 
public  sentiment  soon  ;  that  it  was  changing  already. 
The  situation  had  so  iuapressed  him  that  he  ap- 
peared sure  that  everybody  else  would  see  it  as  he 
did  when  the  facts  were  known.  "  The  great  Amer- 
ican people,"  who  were  that  very  moment  ready  to 
turn  out  almost  to  a  man  to  lynch  him,  was,  I  lion- 
estly  believe,  the  court  of  appeal  to  which  he  was 
then  looking :  they  were  in  his  thoughts  ;  he  rested 
back  on  them  all  through  his  trial,  w^hile  his  eyes 
are  still  turned  in  that  direction,  as  his  reproduc- 
tion in  his  latest  book,  "  The  Truth  and  the  Re- 
moval," of  very  many  foolish  letters  from  the  sov- 
ereign people,  shows.  Why  ?  Not  simply  nor 
mainly  because  he  is  a  fool,  but  because  he  still 
believes  in  the  inspiration  of  the  political  situation. 
That  his  insanity  has  a  blind  side,  that  he  lacks 
common  sense  in  some  directions,  I  have  no  doubt. 
Mr.  Davidge,  who  seemed  to  understand  his  weak- 
ness better  than  the  other  prosecuting  lawyers, 
generally  approached  him  from  that  side,  and 
could  do  about  as  he  had  a  mind  to  with  him  in  his 
interruptions  during  the  trial.  His  credulity  would 
be  touching,  if  it  were  not  so  ludicrous.  It  is  only 
necessary  to  speak  pleasantly  to  him  and  hear  him 
patiently,  and  you  are  "  his  friend  "  and  "  a  good 
fellow."  The  government  stenographer  obtained 
everything  he  wanted  from  him  with  the-'tliin" 


218  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

plan  of  a  life  in  the  New  York  "  Henikl."  He  gave 
his  case  away  to  "  a  friend  "  in  the  guise  of  the 
district  attorney,  —  for  there  was  no  concealment, 
■ — who  was  certain  to  do  his  best  to  convict  him  ; 
but  he  could  not  see  this,  because  he  was  born 
blind,  and  you  turn  away  a  blind  man  from  the 
ditcii  on  one  side  of  the  road,  and  he  will  fall  into 
the  gutter  on  the  other. 

His  letter  to  Senator  Cameron  during  the  trial 
asking  a  loan,  his  correspondence  with  an  heiress, 
the  great  importance  that  he  appears  to  attach  to 
the  foolish  letters  which  he  prints  in  his  book,  may 
all  be  the  frauds  of  a  desperate  criminal,  hoping 
thereby  to  influence  opinion  in  his  case ;  but  I 
believe  they  are  part  and  parcel  of  his  credulity, 
which  has  appeared  in  so  many  other  ways.  The 
heiress  of  the  Austrian  mission  he  told  me  was  a 
lady  he  had  seen  at  a  Sunday-school  in  New  York ; 
that  he  had  seen  her  several  times,  was  without  in- 
troduction or  speaking  acquaintance,  but  her  ap- 
pearance had  convinced  him  that  she  would  have 
married  him  if  he  had  received  the  mission.  Of 
course  there  may  have  been  no  truth  in  tliis,  but  it 
is  singularly  like  those  matrimonial  alliances  that 
are  constantly  being  formed  in  cracked  brains  as 
we  meet  them  in  hospitals.  I  know  his  friends  be- 
lieve he  was  in  earnest  about  the  imaginary  heir- 
ess, whose  letters  he  has  received  in  jail. 


TWO  HARD  CASES.  219 

When  I  was  introduced  to  him  as  a  friend  of 
General  Crocker,  he  came  to  be  curious  about  me, 
asked  his  guard  in  respect  to  the  appearance  of  one 
of  the  judges  on  the  sujDreme  bench  of  the  district, 
and  having  decided  that  I  was  certainly  that  person, 
towards  the  close  of  my  next  visit  he  accosted  me 
as  Jud^e,  ijivino'  that  2:entleman's  name  !  I  smiled, 
flattered,  of  course,  at  having  been  mistaken  for  so 
distinguished  a  person,  and  was  about  to  speak,, 
when  he,  certain  from  my  smile  that  he  was  right, 
said,  "  I  am  glad,  Judge,  that  you  have  taken  pains 
to  come  to  see  me,  and  I  hope  you  will  try  my 
case."  It  would  have  been  wrong  to  allow  him  to 
deceive  himself  further,  and  I  frankly  stated  to  him 
my  name  and  position.  His  face  showed  his  real 
disappointment.  Hoped  I  would  try  his  case  !  And 
this  was  a  lawyer  whose  experience  in  the  ways 
of  courts  and  the  duties  of  judges  was  not  con- 
fined to  Chicago,  but  "late  of  Kew  York,"  and 
Boston,  —  a  lawyer  whose  fundamental  law  had  so 
recently  evolved  his  unanswerable  defense  of  le- 
gal insanity,  untrammeled  by  the  medical  form  ; 
who,  when  Dr.  Gray  w^as  trying  to  have  him  locate 
the  formulation  of  this  remarkable  defense  in  his 
mind  as  something  prior  to  the  shooting,  with  a 
vanity  which  would  not  allow  there  was  anything 
but  what  he  had  thought  out  and  mastered,  said  he 
"  could  not  state  just  what  time  it  came  up  in  form, 


220  TWO  HARD  CASES. 

but  it  was  latent,  a  part  of  his  general  knowledge 
on  the  subject."  Between  his  egotism  and  his  cre- 
dulity he  will  stumble  into  any  pitfall.  This  judi- 
cial mind  saw  no  impropriety,  no  absurdity,  in  the 
eminent  judge  leaving  his  court-room  to  make  a. 
study  of  the  prisoner  in  the  jail,  receiving  the  evi- 
dence from  his  own  lips  in  the  case  that  he  was  after- 
wards to  try  from  the  bench  !  Such  legal  knowl- 
edge is  at  best  "  general,"  and  in  the  main  ''  latent." 
Indeed,  when  you  find  a  man  like  this  to  be  perfectly 
sane,  it  is  worth  your  while  to  take  a  long  look  at 
him,  as  you  may  not  chance  to  meet  such  another, 
even  "  in  a  summer's  day."  But  the  evidence  is  in ; 
"  The  case  must  be  closed,"  said  Mr.  Davidge. 
"Yes,"  added  Mrs.  Scoville,  sadly,  "and  the  man 
must  hang." 

Mr.  Davidge  rose  to  open  the  closing  argument 
for  the  government :  well  known  and  universally 
respected  here  as  among  the  foremost  at  the  Wash- 
ington bar ;  a  ripe,  scholarly  man,  thoroughly  at 
home  in  his  profession,  in  the  contour  of  whose  head 
and  in  the  lines  of  whose  genial  countenance  you 
trace  a  certain  resemblance  to  the  picture  of  the  first 
president,  without  the  formal  stiffness  which  the 
painters  have  contrived  to  give  to  that  historic  face. 

Calmly  and  impressively,  though  still  suffering 
from  illness,  he  outlined  before  them  the  man  and 
his  crime,  the  gradual  growth  of  the  terrible  pur- 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  221 

pose,  analyzing  the  motives  tliat  entered  into  its 
composition.  He  had  argued  the  law  points  on  a 
previous  day.  He  now  reviewed  the  testimony  for 
the  defense,  frittering  it  away,  bit  by  bit,  sliowing 
how  far  it  fell  short  of  establishing  that  insanity 
which  would  be  a  defense  of  crime.  He  showed 
how  the  defense  had  been  driven  to  abandon  Mr. 
Scoville's  '•  fool  theory,"  with  which  they  had 
started,  and  how,  as  a  forlorn  hope,  they  had 
been  compelled  to  place  the  prisoner  himself  on 
the  stand,  in  an  unavailing  effort  to  establish  his 
claim  for  inspiration.  He  dwelt  long,  recurring  to 
it  again  and  again,  on  the  "  iron  standard  "  of 
the  law  of  insanity  which  the  court  had  set  up  in 
this  case,  the  knowledore  of  ricjht  and  wronsj  in  rela- 
tion  to  the  act  in  question  ;  in  his  fervor  not  always 
remembering  to  include  the  latter  qualification  :  that 
a  man  might  be  eccentric,  have  peculiar  religious 
beliefs,  might  be  "off  his  balance,"  might  be  "a 
crank,"  and  yet  be  fully  responsible  in  the  eye 
of  the  law.  So  of  this  man  of  the  one-sided  face, 
"  whose  asymmetry  is  in  his  soul."' 

It  is  impossible  in  this  merest  tracing  of  his  speech 
to  do  anything  like  justice  to  the  beauty  of  his  dic- 
tion, the  strength  of  his  argument,  or  the  impregna- 
bility of  his  legal  position.  He  seemed  to  me  to 
have  accepted  in  his  own  mind  the  conclusion  that 
the    man    was   somewhat  wrong  in   his  head,  but 


222  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

thoroughly  responsible  for  his  crime.  Perliaps  I 
do  him  an  injustice,  but  that  was  the  way  it  sounded 
in  my  ears  as  I  heard  him. 

He  made  many  very  effective  points,  and  only 
one  mistake  :  that  was  when,  disclaiming  to  apolo- 
gize for,  he  still  spoke  of,  the  mob  as  always  hav- 
ing "behind  it  the  highest  forms  of  hnman  passion 
and  human  sentiment."  His  diction  was  at  all 
times  rich  with  allusions  and  poetry,  —  the  "  hands 
incarnadine,"  "  the  Divinity  which  doth  hedge  in  a 
king."  The  speech  blossoms  all  over  with  the  flow- 
ers of  his  rhetoric,  that  are  yet  pregnant  with 
meaning. 

A  single  sentence  must  suffice  to  illustrate  :  "  This 
man,  without  intelligence,  you  understand,  who  had 
intelligence  enough,  as  this  terrible  flower  was  un- 
folding its  petals,  to  give  his  victim  a  chance.  He 
went  on  balancing  the  conception.  He  received  no 
reply,  and  on  the  1st  of  June  he  made  up  his  mind 
that  he  would  put  out  that  little  light,  that  nobody 
in  this  world  can  ever  relight, —  the  light  of  life. 
He  made  up  his  inind  that  he  would  break  down  that 
partition."  This  is  only  one  of  very  many  such  pas- 
sages, and  when  alluding  to  the  pity  for  Mrs.  Gar- 
field that  saved  the  President  on  the  18tli  of  June, 
and  expressing  the  hope  that  there  might  have  been 
in  the  heart  of  this  demon  a  transitory  compassion, 
akin  to  that  which  rose  to  the  lips  of  Macbeth,  on 


TWO   HARD    CASES.  223 

his  way  to  the  chamber  to  murder  Duncan,  he  re- 
cited that  passage  of  Shakespeare,  commencing-, 

"Besides,  this  Duncan 
Hath  borne  his  faculties  so  meek,"  — 

it  had  such  dramatic  and  thrilling  effect  that,  at  the 
close  of  his  speech,  the  great  actor  Rossi,  who  was 
present,  rushed  from  his  seat  to  congratulate  him. 

Coming  down  to  the  prisoner's  own  testimony,  he 
ruthlessly  dissected  his  claim  to  inspiration,  and  at 
last,  gathering  up  all  the  cumulative  facts  that  were 
brought  out  in  the  testimony  of  General  Reynolds 
into  one  bolt,  which  he  hurled  with  crushing  effect 
at  the  prisoner,  he  sat  down,  without  peroration  be- 
yond the  statement  that  "  their  countrymen  and 
Christendom  were  waiting  for  their  verdict." 

Mr.  Reed  followed  for  the  defense.  He  was  the 
youngest  lawyer  in  the  case.  He  had  unquestioned 
ability ;  had  also  the  thorough  training  of  twelve 
years  as  state's  attorney  in  Chicago.  He  had  come 
into  the  case,  originally,  as  a  witness  for  Guiteau. 
He  had  known  Guiteau  for  years,  believed  in  his 
insanity,  and  seeing  Mr,  Scoville  left  alone  in  the 
case,  ignorant  of  criminal  law,  fighting  manfully 
where  at  the  best  the  odds  were  fearfully  against 
him,  as  one  by  one  the  great  criminal  lawyers  who 
had  been  appealed  to  for  aid  declined  to  come  for- 
ward, he  had  thrown  himself  into  the  arena,  a  kind 


224  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

of  knight-errant  for  fair  play.  His  speech  was  the 
shortest  in  the  argument,  but  not  the  less  effective 
on  that  account. 

After  complimenting  the  jury  on  their  patient 
endurance,  and  a  side  compliment  to  Mr.  Davidge 
for  spending  two  days  trying  to  convince  tliem  that 
the  testimony  for  the  defense  was  "  mere  trash," 
wlien,  if  there  was  no  suspicion  in  their  minds  that 
this  poor  man  was  a  lunatic,  ten  minutes  was 
enough,  he  proceeded  to  parallel  this  case  with  that 
of  Hatfield  shooting  at  the  king,  Oxford  at  the 
queen,  and  Lawrence's  attempt  to  take  the  life  of 
President  Jackson. 

Very  soon  after  opening  he  made  an  ap[)eal  to 
the  jury  in  behalf  of  the  doctrine  of  a  reasonable 
doubt  of  the  sanity  of  the  man,  and  this  was  the 
key-note  of  his  plea.  He  drew  a  graphic  picture 
of  a  boy,  silent  till  the  age  of  six,  from  defect  of 
mind ;  then  learning  to  talk,  growing  up  a  strange 
boy,  but  good,  kind,  affectionate,  with  no  bad  hab- 
its. Then,  the  ambition  for  an  education  awak- 
ened ;  the  prospects  of  his  opening  life,  with  his 
school  at  Ann  Arbor  ;  thence  urged,  almost  forced, 
by  his  father  into  "  that  vestibule  of  hell,  the 
Oneida  Community."  We  are  familiar  with  the 
story.  He  commented  at  length  on  the  religious 
letters  written  from  the  Community.  What  sane 
man   could  have  written   such  letters  ?     Did  they 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  225 

have  a  doubt  of  the  state  of  that  man's  mind  ? 
So  he  followed  his  life  along,  admitting  its  de- 
pravity at  times,  —  tlie  result  of  disease.  And 
ever  and  anon  came  the  appeal  for  the  reason- 
able doubt,  —  the  father's  letter,  and  John  Gui- 
teau's  belief  in  demoniac  possession ;  and,  with 
touching  pathos,  he  shifted  the  scene  to  Galilee 
and  those  demon-possessed  lunatics.  "  He  healed 
the  sick,  among  them  those  possessed  of  a  devil, 
lunatics."  "It  was  called  a  disease  then.  Your 
Saviour  and  mine  called  it  a  disease,  and  he  healed 
them."  He  states  how,  five  years  ago,  the  sister 
told  her  physician  that  her  brother  was  insane,  ap- 
pealing to  him  for  aid  ;  and,  in  fitting  phrase,  he  eu- 
logized the  devotion  of  that  sister,  who,  believing 
as  she  did,  had  sat  by  his  side  in  all  this  trouble, 
when  Mr.  Davidge  had  said,  "  This  family  ought 
to  have  broken  him  off  like  a  rotten  limb,  and  cast 
him  into  the  fire."  Then  he  turned  with  thrilling 
effect  to  that  encomium  which  had  been  pro- 
nounced on  the  mob,  "representing  the  best  of 
human  passions  and  sentiments,"  and  read  how 
that  mob  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  cried,  "  Cru- 
cify Him  !    Crucify  Him  !  " 

Then,  turning  to   the  prisoner  before   them,  he 

called  attention  to  the  insane  gait  with  which,  for 

weeks,  he  had  shuffled  past  them  ;  the  "  wild  light  in 

his  eye,"  that  they  needed  no  expert  to  show  them. 

15 


226  TWO   HARD   CASES. 

Coming  clown  to  the  shooting,  he  urged  the  hick  of 
motive  as  proving  insanity  ;  that  a  sane  man  wouhl 
know  that  he  would  be  torn  in  pieces  at  the  depot, 
or  shortly  hanged.  If  he  had  a  motive,  he  would 
have  killed  him  the  evening  before.  Then,  the  quiet 
sleep  of  the  night  following  ;  the  insane  expecta- 
tions that  he  revealed  to  General  Reynolds.  Then, 
a  point  he  had  overlooked,  of  the  wild  leap  from  the 
New  Jersey  express  train.  Another  appeal  for  the 
one  juror  with  the  reasonable  doubt.  A  picture  of 
the  closing  scene,  with  the  last  look  from  the  "  same 
weary,  wandering  eye,"  and  the  prayer  that  they 
should  "  do  that  which  shall  not,  in  after-years, 
bring  a  blush  of  shame  to  your  cheeks." 

It  was  over.  The  reasonable  doubt,  so  elo- 
quently urged,  was  solid  ground  on  which  the  de- 
fense could  stand  now  and  hereafter.  There  was 
room  for  that,  had  the  victim  been  an  ordinary 
man.  The  call  was  for  but  one  man,  only  one,  and 
he  was  not  found  ;  but  along  with  the  case  will  go 
dow^n  to  after-time  that  knight  of  the  white  plume, 
still  doino^  battle  for  the  reasonable  doubt. 

Whatever  effect  the  speech  may  have  produced 
was  dissipated  by  the  irrepressible  one,  who  broke 
the  stillness  with  "  Mr.  Reed  is  a  good  fellow,  but 
I  would  n't  give  a  cent  a  bushel  for  his  rubbish. 
If  I  get  a  chance  at  that  jury,  I  will  give  them  the 
theory   to  settle   this    case."     Here   was    the   last 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  227 

chance  for  Guiteaii,  —  to  leave  that  jury,  when  the 
court  adjourned,  silently  pondering  the  reasonable 
doubt,  —  '•  and  with  a  breath  he  blows  it  away." 
Scoville's  fool  theory  was  not  so  bad,. after  all. 

Mr.  Scoville  followed,  and  spoke  for  five  days. 
The  burden  of  ahiiost  the  entire  labor  of  defense 
had  de\  olved  on  him  from  the  first.  The  trial  was 
entering  upon  its  tenth  week,  when  he  commenced 
his  speech.  It  has  been  suggested  that  he  pro- 
longed his  arguQient  in  order,  by  the  limitation  of 
time,  to  carry  the  execution  of  the  sentence  over 
another  teim  of  the  court ;  but  as  Mr.  Davidge 
occupied  two  and  Judge  Porter  nearly  three  days, 
and  then  closed  before  he  had  concluded  all  that  he 
originally  intended  to  say,  it  is  reasonable  at  least, 
that  Mr.  Scoville,  unfamiliar  as  he  was  with  crimi- 
nal law,  found  it  impossible  to  go  over  the  whole 
ground  in  less  time  than  he  took ;  indeed,  as  it  was, 
he  left  his  argument  unfinished.  There  is  a  limit 
to  the  power  of  human  endurance,  and  the  wonder 
is,  after  three  months  of  constant  application  and 
anxiety,  day  and  night,  in  the  conduct  of  this  de- 
fense, in  some  respects  the  most  difficult  and  em- 
barrassing on  record,  that  he  was  able  to  stand  up 
before  that  jury,  day  after  day,  and  not  fall  ex- 
hausted with  his  labor.  It  is  remarkable,  not  that 
he  failed  to  cover  all  the  ground  he  had  mapped 
out,  not  that  he  omitted  many  things  that  he  was 


228  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

expected  to  say,  not  tliat  lie  said  some  tilings  that 
would  have  been  better  left  unsaid,  but  that  so 
much  that  he  did  say  was  said  so  well.  In  the  nec- 
essarily restricted  limits  of  these  outlines,  I  shall 
not  undertake  to  give  even  an  analysis  of  his  ad- 
dress. He  opened  by  saying  that  he  left  oratory 
to  the  distinsjuished  gentleman  who  was  to  follow 
him  (Judge  Porter),  and  asked  only  "a  fair,  can- 
did considei-ation  of  the  facts  in  the  case  by  fair, 
candid  men." 

His  analysis  of  the  testimony,  in  which  he  dem- 
onstrated that  he  had  made  a  careful  study  of  its 
weak  points,  was  exhaustive,  but  there  was  no  end 
to  it;  even  the  jury  showed  at  last  that  it  was  not 
only  exhaustive  but  exhausting,  and  the  audience 
felt,  when  he  said,  at  the  opening  of  the  afternoon, 
session  of  the  fifth  day,  "  I  am  admonished  that  if 
I  do  not  set  my  time,  and  come  to  a  close  in  this 
case,  I  shall  never  get  through,"  that  he  had  not 
overestimated  the  perils  of  the  situation. 

I  think  Mr.  Scoville  believed  that  he  had  been 
unfairly  treated  by  the  prosecution  in  the  trial,  and 
he  said  some  things  bitterly.  He  criticised  severely 
the  district  attorney's  course  with  the  prisoner 
at  the  jail  following  the  shooting,  and  his  dic- 
tatorial manner  in  the  court-room,  saying  that  he 
had  treated  the  witnesses  for  the  defense  "  with  all 
the    domineering,   overbearing    conduct   of    a    Jef- 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  229 

freys."  He  gave  his  own  study  of  Judge  Porter's 
vanity  and  oratory,  of  course  intended  to  weaken 
the  effect  of  his  eloquence  with  the  jury  in  his  clos- 
ing argument,  and  so  legitimate ;  but  he  embittered 
it  by  saying,  "  Judge  Porter  has  come  here  to 
Washington,  and  prostituted  his  talent,  his  high  at- 
tainments, for  money,  to  hang  an  insane  man/'  which 
was  not  needed  for  his  ai-gument.  He  disclaimed 
oratory,  but  sometimes  rose  nearly  to  it,  as  when,  in 
regard  to  the  testimony  of  McElfresh,  the  officer 
who  rode  with  Guiteau  to  the  jail,  which  was  ob- 
jected to  in  sui-rebuttal  by  the  counsel  as  "  contrary 
to  the  rules  of  law,"  he  says,  "  It  is  contrary  to 
the  rules  of  law  !  Was  it  contrary  to  the  principles  of 
eternal  justice?  Was  there  anything  in  that  (hat  was 
improper  for  you  to  know,  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 
by  which  to  make  up  your  minds  whether  that  man 
had  been  insane  an  hour  before,  at  the  depot,  when 
he  fired  the  shot?"  —  an  argument  that  would  not 
be  without  weight  in  the  impartial  equity  of  history. 
Indeed,  as  day  after  day  I  listened  to  him,  I 
thought  I  could  see  that,  while  he  omitted  noth- 
ing which  he  considered  likely  to  make  for  the 
prisoner  in  tlie  verdict,  he  had  given  up  hope  of 
anything,  unless  a  [)ossible  doubtful  juror,  and 
that  much  which  he  said  was  spoken  over  their 
lieads  to  posterity.  lie  was  leaving  the  case  there, 
in  which  he  would  still  go  down  to  after-time,  and 


230  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

he  introduced  many  things  which  were  hardly  pol- 
itic to  say  in  tliat  court  room,  but  things  in  whose 
truth  he  thoroughly  believed,  and  which,  when  said, 
miiiht  stand  as  his  protest,  his  exceptions,  —  not 
formally  noted,  —  that  would  help  to  make  up  the 
argument  at  that  tribunal  of  last  appeal.  Hence  it 
was  that  he  introduced  his  famous  indictment  for 
conspiracy  to  hang  the  prisoner,  in  which  he  in- 
cluded the  counsel  for  the  government  and  five 
consulting  expert  witnesses;  the  first  of  his  twenty 
counts  of  the  indictment  being,  "  That  these  gentle- 
men have  perverted  the  facts  in  the  case."  For  the 
same  purpose  of  appeal  he  arraigned  the  American 
press  and  the  journalism  of  the  time  for  "  antici- 
pating the  processes  and  adjudication  of  the  courts 
of  law,"  and  for  their  complaint  that  "  the  course  of 
American  justice  is  too  slow."  He  rebuked  Judge 
Davis,  of  New  York,  for  having  in  his  judicial  po- 
sition "  assumed  to  promulgate  a  decision  from  the 
bench  there  that  is  intended  to  influence  the  opin- 
ion or  the  decision  of  this  court." 

And  in  this  direction  he  reached  his  culminating 
point  when  he  said,  "I  arraign  before  you,  gentle-^ 
men,  as  those  who  are  crowding  this  man  to  the 
gallows,  persons  high  in  authority. 

"I  say,  without  fear,  that  the  movers  of  this 
prosecution  are  those  politicians  who  seek  to  hide 
their  own  infamy  by  casting  the  blame  upon  this 
insane  man. 


TWO   HARD   CASES.  231 

"  I  say  that  such  meu  as  Conkliug  and  Grant 
and  Arthur,  those  who  made  war  without  justifi- 
cation upon  the  dead  President,  whom  thay  have 
since  lauded  to  the  skies,  instituted  that  state  of 
things  and  manufactured  that  degree  of  public  ex- 
citement and  of  popular  feeling  that  preyed  upon 
this  insane  man  until  reason  left  its  throne,  and 
he  did  that  which  he  considered  was  perfectly 
in  accordance  with  their  counsels  and  their  con- 
duct." 

All  this  looks  far  away  from  the  present  hour, 
appealing  to  him  who  shall  hereafter  dispassion- 
ately write  the  annals  of  our  times.  It  is  unde- 
niable that  Mr.  Scoville  spoke  too  long ;  his  argu- 
ment is  too  diffuse ;  could  it  have  been  condensed 
into  two  days,  it  would  have  carried  more  weight. 
I  believe  that  much  of  his  study  of  the  feelings 
and  motives  of  this  man  is  correct,  and  will  stand. 
Of  his  appeals  to  history  we  are  obviously  living 
too  near  to  the  facts  in  question  to  attempt  to  give 
an  opinion  which,  if  any,  posterity  will  allow,  and 
which  it  will  overrule. 

Mr.  Scoville's  thankless  task  in  this  case,  so 
bravely  undertaken  and  carried  through,  is  as 
creditable  to  his  heart  as  his  head ;  and  as  a 
monument  deserves  to  rank  with  that  round  tower 
which  the  old  Roman  triumvir,  Crassus,  built  so 
well   that,   after   nigh   two  thousand  years,  it  still 


232  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

tells  the  traveler  what  he  did  for  the  sake  of 
Caecelia  Metella. 

It  was  undeniable  that  the  prisoner  had  a  legal 
right  to  speak  in  his  own  behalf,  and  the  court, 
after  once  refusing,  granted  his  request. 

The  morning  of  the  21st  of  January,  1882, 
d;iwned  rainy  and  gloomy,  but  the  court-room  was 
more  crowded  than  ever.  The  great  day  of  the 
trial  had  come.  Guiteau  was  to  speak  for  his  life. 
Curiosity  was  on  tiptoe ;  the  only  drawback  the 
lovers  of  novelty  in  sensation  felt  was  that  Guiteau, 
having  been  in  the  first  instance  refused  permission 
to  speak,  had,  with  his  usual  enterprise,  printed  his 
speech  in  the  New  York  "  Herald,"  so  that  most 
of  the  audience  knew  what  lie  was  to  say.  That, 
however,  mattered  but  very  little  ;  it  was  the  man, 
and  how  he  would  appear,  that  most  of  the  specta- 
tors came  to  see.  "  How  do  I  look  ?  "  was  his 
question  to  the  guard  before  entering  the  court- 
room. This  man  had  not  begun  to  realize  the  sit- 
uation, but  he  had  come  with  "  his  show  "  to  his 
benefit  day,  and  he  was  anxious  to  present  a  "  high- 
toned  "  appearance. 

He  took  his  place  in  the  witness-box,  and,  seating 
himself,  adjusted  his  glasses,  and  at  the  intimation 
of  the  judge  began  to  read  from  his  manuscript, 
"his  theory  of  the  defense."  What  would  he  have 
thought  of  such  an  audience  in  those  days  of  the 


TWO  HARD    CASES  233 

lecturing  tour,  when  the  night  was  stormy  and  no- 
body came  ?  Well,  stormy  though  it  was,  he  had 
at  last  an  audience  large  as  his  egotism  could  ask, 
and  their  attention  to  the  close  ;  and  he  ?  The 
theme  was  an  interesting  one,  —  he  could  afford 
to  give  them  the  whole  lecture.  Though  I.  have 
heard  more  brilliant  men,  the  addi'ess  was  the  most 
thrilling  to  which  I  have  ever  listened ;  a  kind  of 
oratory  that  remains  with  you  ever  after,  though 
the  scenery  had  probably  something  to  do  with  the 
dramatic  effect.  As  the  storm  deepened  without, 
the  room  grew  dark,  and  the  lamps  brought  in, 
wliile  the}"  shed  a  sickly  light  on  the  speaker's  pale, 
smooth-shaven  face,  made  the  whole  scene  only 
more  grewsome.  I  could  see  the  shadow  of  the 
end  falling  over  him,  but  he  saw  no  such  thing ;  he 
saw  the  "  chance  at  that  jury,  to  give  them  the 
theory  to  settle  this  case."  He  was  flattered  by 
the  attention  of  the  audience ;  so  many  "  high- 
toned  "  people,  and  for  once  the  opportunity  to  do 
all  the  talking  himself.  His  voice  was  rather  thin, 
but  distinctly  heard.  He  did  w^onderfully  well,  for 
it  was  the  one  theme  in  which  he  was  perfectly  at 
home,  —  it  was  the  only  lecture  of  his  that  could 
ever  ''  draw." 

But  what  was  it  ?  The  old  story,  a  warp  of 
nightmare  woven  with  "  shreds  and  patches : " 
his  "  Christmas  Greeting,"  which  had  by  his  mis- 


234  TWO  BARB   CASES. 

take,  which  he  now  proceeded  to  rectify,  crept  into 
the  New  York  "  Herald  "  edition,  with  its  original 
heading,  a  resume  of  his  life,  a  rehash  of  his 
"  Truth,"  and  interruptions  that  had  already  done 
duty  in  the  court-room,  letters  of  sympathy  that 
he  had  received,  doggerel  verses  and  paraphrases, 
quotations  from  the  testimony  and  Scripture,  —  a 
strange  jumble  and  medley ;  and  running  through 
it  all,  and  binding  it  into  a  sort  of  coherency,  the 
threads  of  his  delusion  of  a  country  saved  by  in- 
spiration, and  the  unanswerable  plea  of  his  legal 
insanity,  "  presented  by  the  author." 

Of  course,  now,  if  ever,  it  behooved  the  watch- 
ful juror  to  look  out  for  frauds  at  the  hands  of  a 
man  who  could  burnish  an  oroide  watch  equal  to 
gold  ;  but  when  lie  reached  that  passage,  "  Forget- 
ting the  things  behind,  I  pressed  forward.  I  have 
no  doubt  as  to  my  spiritual  destiny.  I  have  al- 
ways been  a  lover  of  the  Lord,  and  whether  I  live 
one  year  or  thirty,"  and  the  voice  had  begun  to 
tremble,  and  he  stopped,  the  lip  quivered  while 
the  chin  held  it  for  a  moment,  the  tear  was 
stealing  down  the  cheek  before  the  head  dropped, 
the  handkerchief  brushed  it  away,  but  he  stifled 
it  down  as  a  weakness,  and  completed  his  sen- 
tence with  "  I  am  his,"  then  I  allowed  that  if  it 
was  acting  it  surpassed  anything  I  had  ever  wit- 
nessed from  Joseph  Jefferson,  and  if  he  had  aban 


TWO  HARD  CASES.  235 

doned  theology  for  the  stage,  instead  of  politics,  his 
fortune  would  liave  been  made.  No,  it  was  too 
real  for  acting.  That  religious  faith  is  real,  though 
insane. 

Then  the  egotism  rose,  and  the  audience  smiled 
over  the  presumption  that  he  should  live  to  be 
President.  Possibly  a  joke ;  but  the  next  sen- 
tence told  us  that  General  Arthur  was  a  good  man 
every  way.  "  I  happen  to  know  liim  well ;  I  was 
with  him  constantly  in  New  York  during  the  can- 
vass." Then  the  tlieology  rose  again  :  '"  The  de- 
spised Galilean  and  his  great  apostle."  The  work 
done,  and  the  result  left  to  God.  "  I  put  up  my 
life  on  the  Deity's  inspiration,  and  I  have  not  come 
to  grief  yet,  and  I  have  no  idea  I  shall,  because  I 
do  not  think  I  am  destined  to  be  shot  or  hunor.  But 
tliat  is  a  matter  for  the  Deity  to  pass  on,  and  not 
me,  Wliatever  the  mode  of  my  exit  from  this 
world,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  my  name  and  work 
will  roll  tliundering  down  the  ages  ;  but  woe  to  the 
men  that  kill  me,  privately  or  judicially."  ''There 
is  God  and  one  man,  in  this  case,  on  one  side,  and 
on  the  other  the  whole  world  against  them;  but 
God  and  his  man  will  prevail  at  last." 

But  the  egotism  grows  more  audacious,  and  par- 
allels his  vagabond  life  with  Christ  and  St.  Paul's, 
and  then  his  evangel  comes  in  :  "  My  little  book  will 
go  thundering  down  the  ages,  whatever  becomes  of 


236  TIVO  HARD   CASES. 

my  bod}'."  Then  his  debts  and  the  S3"mpathy  that 
a  like  weakness  should  give  the  district  attorney. 
And  he  embraces  the  opportunity  to  embalm  here 
the  inseparable  pamphlet  of  "  Garfield  against  Han- 
cock." "  I  gave  this  speech  to  the  leading  stalwarts, 
and  they  were  pleased  with  it.  It  had  a  certain 
ring,  and  they  noticed  it."  He  alludes  to  the  spe- 
cial providences  that  have  saved  his  life  from  pistol 
and  rifle  balls  ;  how  death  might  have  found  the 
President  another  way,  —  "a  railroad  accident,  or 
slipped  on  an  orange  peel  and  broken  his  neck." 
He  recites  a  paraphrase  of  "  Brutus,  on  the  Death 
of  Ca3sar."  He  goes  over  Brooks's  testimony  and 
the  inspiration,  the  Abrahamic  style  of  insanity, 
the  plea  of  transitory  mania,  a  newspaper  article 
on  the  Guiteau  experts,  letters  and  poems  and  ex- 
tracts from  the  prayers  and  discourses  of  eminent 
divines  at  the  President's  death,  and  then  he  rises 
into  solemn  warning  and  denunciation  of  those  who 
would  harm  him.  "  For  I  tell  yon  the  truth,  and 
lie  not,  when  I  say  I  am  here  as  God's  man."  He 
takes  up  the  slave-holders  and  John  Brown's  raid, 
and  startling,  yet  ludicrous,  his  thin  voice  pi^Des 
out,  — 

"John  Brown's  body  lies  mouldering  in  the  ground;  " 

when,  discovering  that  his  singing  is  not  impressive, 
he  finishes  by  reciting  the  rest  of  the  stanza. 


Tn^C?   fTAKD   CASES.  237 

But  enough  :  this  is  not  agreeable  reading,  and 
while  it  thrilled  and  held  the  listener,  it  was  not 
pleasant  pastime.  I  wondered,  as  my  eye  ran  over 
those  listening  jurors,  whether  some  solitary  mem- 
ber, who,  perhaps,  had  known  something  personally 
about  insanity,  might  not  entei-tain  a  reasonable 
doubt  whether  Guiteau  had  not  a  dual  nature,  and 
Dr.  Gray's  sane  man  had  somehow  got  mixed  up 
with  this  lunatic;  but  I  supposed  they  would  con- 
clude, as  they  evidently  did,  that  this  was  all  put  on 
for  effect. 

Guiteau  felt  that  this  was  a  great  success.  He 
previously  stated  in  court,  in  his  modest  fashion, 
when  he  feared  that  he  would  be  cut  off  from  de- 
livering his  speech,  that  ''  it  sounded  like  one  of 
Cicero's  orations,  and  would  go  thundering  down  the 
ages."  But  his  day  in  court  was  passing,  and  though 
he  would  have  gladly  lingered  longer  on  the  word, 
supremely  flattered  as  he  was  by  all  that  pageant 
that  was  conducting  him  to  his  doom,  though  even 
then  he  could  not  recognize  it,  he  came  to  the  end  ; 
and  warning  them  not:  to  ''  get  the  Deity  down  on 
them,"  and  urging  that  "  it  would  be  better  every 
way  that  it  be  officially  decided  the  act  of  a  mad- 
man," in  the  presence  of  bis  greatest  audience, 
folding  the  manuscript  of  what  had  been  his  most 
impressive  discourse,  Charles  J.  Guiteau  left  the 
lecture  platform  forever. 


238  TWO   HARD   CASES. 

The  eleven  til  and  last  week  of  the  trial  opened 
with  the  closing  argument  of  Judge  Porter.  His 
legal  reputation  was  already  secure  without  this, 
which  was  to  be  the  crowning  effort  of  his  life. 
His  fame  at  the  New  York  bar  had  been  lonof  es- 
tablished,  but  the  world  knew  him  as  the  senior 
counsel  for  tiie  defense  in  the  famous  Beecher  trial. 
His  life,  even  now  turning  towards  age,  had  not  lost 
its  vigor.  A  pleasing  face,  a  keen  eye,  a  sonorous 
voice,  and  the  pointing  finger  that  enforced  his 
thought ;  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  23olitely 
bowing  to  the  jury  ;  an  ideal  advocate  from  that 
generation  which  is  passing  away,  he  had  come  to 
aid  the  government  in  the  vindication  of  the  maj- 
esty of  the  law,  and  in  this  case  of  world-wide 
reputation  to  gather  laurels  for  a  brow  that,  like 
Cgesar's,  had  begun  to  need  them. 

With  all  his  suavity,  he  was  somewhat  dictatorial 
in  manner,  and  once  during  the  closing  argument, 
when  the  court  sustained  an  objection  to  his  state- 
ment, he  told  the  jury  that  he  had  "practiced  law 
longer  than  his  honor  ;  "  and  again  during  the  trial, 
wlien  he  objected  to  a  question  of  Mr.  Scoville's  as 
"irreverent  and  blasphemous,"  as  "  a  hypothetical 
question,  put  without  foundation,  which  dishonors 
the  memory  of  and  the  reverence  due  to  the  Re- 
deemer of  mankind,"  and  his  honor  decided  that 
foundation  had  been  laid  for  the  question  and  over- 


TWO   HARD  CASES.  239 

ruled  the  objection,  Judge  Porter  took  liis  appeal 
to  history,  and  "  in  behalf  of  the  American  gov- 
e.-nment  and  those  they  represent,  protested  against 
the  decision  passing  into  a  precedent."  Looking 
on,  an  observant  spectator,  I  thought  I  could  de- 
tect throughout  the  trial  that  both  counsel  and  pris- 
oner had  not  forgotten  that  this  hearing  would 
become  historic,  and  were  posturing  a  little  for  the 
eye  of  the  retrospective  observer  of  future  years. 

I  have  previously  stated  that  the  court-room  had 
been  packed  with  spectators  every  day  from  the 
commencement  of  the  trial,  but  this  Monday  morn- 
ing it  seemed  as  if  not  the  floor  space  alone,  but 
all  the  air  space,  would  be  taken  before  the  open- 
ing of  the  session,  — 

"  So  thick  the  airy  crowd 

Swarmed  and  were  straightened." 

To  find  comfortable  space  for  all  that  vast  as- 
semblage within  the  narrow  walls  of  that  court- 
room, the  audience  needed  the  power  to  condense 
themselves  which  Milton  bestows  on  those  fallen 
chiefs  in  their  vast  conclave  in  the  halls  of  the  in- 
fernal court. 

It  was  evident  that  the  judicial,  unimpassioned 
style  in  which  Colonel  Corkhill  had  opened  the 
case  for  the  government  was  to  be  given  up.  The 
court-room  gossip  was  that  one  member  of  the 
jury,  who    had    set^n    insanity  in    his  own  family, 


240  Tiro   HARD    CASES. 

would  hold  to  an  independent  opinion  that  the  pris- 
oner was  a  lunatic,  and  after  all  this  labor  the  jury 
would  disagree.  The  brilliant  advocate  was  to 
leave  no  stone  unturned,  in  argument,  in  invective, 
in  pathos,  in  the  appeal  to  human  passion  and 
prejudice ;  anything  to  secure  the  ballot  of  the 
twelfth  man.  Be  sure  the  government  had  not 
counted  in  vain  on  Judge  Porter;  he  was  there  to 
win.  lie  began  calmly,  but  his  early  allusion  to 
"  the  two  Gniteaus,"  meaning  the  prisoner  and  Mr. 
Scoville  ;  and  later,  his  S3"mpathetic  allusion  to  Mrs. 
8coville,  "  however  unfortunate  her  situation,  as  the 
prisoner's  sister  and  Mr.  Scoville's  wife  ;  "  and  still 
later,  "  a  third-rate  shyster  of  a  criminal  court, 
Mr.  Scoville  can  tell  you  what  that  is  ;  I  cannot," 
showed  his  bitterness,  that  the  barbed  dart  about 
his  vanity  and  oratory  rankled.  He  really  be- 
lieved Guiteau  a  kind  of  human  rattlesnake,  and 
likened  him  to  that  venomous  reptile  "  without  his 
rattle." 

After  alluding  to  the  interruptions  to  which  they 
had  been  subjected  so  long,  and  the  unsparing*  mur- 
derous hate  that  would  still,  if  he  felt  sure  of  im- 
munity, send  a  ball  to  the  heart  of  his  honor,  or 
any  one  of  that  jury,  he  reproduced  the  life  of  the 
prisoner  before  them,  as  he  saw  him,  and  with  the 
hand  of  a  master  he  limned  this  depraved  being  in 
all  his   vileness,  eliminating  all  the  insanity,  pre- 


\ 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  241 

senting  only  the  pure  "  devil  seed."  It  is  due  to 
Judge  Porter  that  a  portion  of  tliis  sketch  should 
appear  in  these  pages,  if  I  am  to  convey  to  the 
reader  any  idea  of  his  power  :  — 

*'  The  evidence  shows  him  to  have  been  cunning, 
crafty,  and  remorseless,  utterly  selfish  from  his 
youth  up,  low  and  brutal  in  his  instincts,  inordi- 
nate in  his  love  of  notoriety  ;  eaten  up  by  a  lust 
for  money  which  has  gnawed  into  his  soul  like  a 
cancer;  a  beggar,  a  hypocrite,  a  canter,  a  swindler, 
a  lawyer,  who,  with  many  years  of  practice  in  two 
great  cities  never  won  a  cause,  and  you  know  why  ; 
a  man  who  has  left  in  every  State  through  which 
he  passed,  a  trail  of  knavery,  fraud,  and  imposition  ; 
a  man  who  has  lived  at  the  exj)ense  of  others,  and 
when  he  succeeded  in  getting  possession  of  their 
funds,  appropriated  them  to  his  own  private  use, 
in  breach  of  every  honorable  obligation  and  every 
professional  trust ;  a  man  capable  of  mimicking  the 
manners  and  aping  the  bearing  of  a  gentleman  ; 
who  bought  at  pawnbrokers'  shops  the  cast-off 
clothing,  for  which  he  paid  only  when  his.  credit 
elsewhere  was  exhausted  ;  and  then,  with  his  plausi- 
bility of  religious  cant,  his  studied  skill  as  an  actor, 
his  unscrupulous  self-commendation,  drifting  about 
from  State  to  State,  professing  to  be  engaged  in  the 
work  of  the  Lord ;  a  man,  who,  as  a  lawyer,  col- 
lected doubtful  debts  by  dogging  the  debtor,  pock- 


la 


242  TWO  HARD  CASES. 

eted  the  money  as  against  his  clients,  and  chuckled 
over  their  credulity  in  trusting  him  ;  a  man  who 
pawned  counterfeit  watches  as  gold,  to  eke  out  a 
professional  livelihood  ;  a  man  capable  even  of  en- 
deavoring to  blast  the  name  of  the  woman  with 
w^hom  he  had  slept  for  years,  and  whom  he  ac- 
knowledges to  have  been  a  true  and  faithful  wife  ; 
capable  of  palming  himself  off  upon  the  pub- 
lic, upon  Christian  associations,  upon  Christian 
churches,  from  city  to  city,  as  a  pure  and  upright 
man,  though  he  had  spent  years  in  shameless  forni- 
cation ;  a  man  who  afterwards,  when  he  wished  to 
get  rid  of  his  wife,  consulted  the  commandments  of 
God,  and  reading, '  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,' 
went  out  and  committed  it  with  a  prostitute. 

"  He  thought  it  needful  that  his  wife  should  be 
'  removed.'  Fortunately  for  her,  it  did  not  come  to 
the  necessity  of  the  form  of  '  removal '  which  he  ap- 
plied to  President  Garfield.  He  was  content  with 
that  which  he  could  procure  for  himself  by  a  safer 
crime,  and  afterwards  appeared  before  the  judicial 
referee  as  a  witness  to  establish  the  marriage,  and, 
as  the  record  shows,  produced  the  prostitute  to 
prove  the  adultery.  He  is  proved  by  his  own 
witness  to  have  been  so  void  of  all  honor,  so  pos- 
sessed of  the  spirit  of  diabolism,  that  he  was  capa- 
ble at  the  age  of  eighteen  of  stealing  up  behind  his 
own  father,  oivinor    him    a    cowardly  blow    while 


T]VO   HARD    CASES.  243 

seated  at  his  own  table,  and  relying  upon  the  fact 
that  he  was  then  a  larger  and  stronger  man  than 
the  father,  as  the  latter  rose,  exchanged  blow  after 
blow  with  him,  and  when  the  old  gentleman  by  a 
fortunate  stroke  drew  blood  on  his  face,  the  son 
at  once  surrendered, — a  coward,  then  as  now. 
The  spirit  in  which  at  forty  he  fired  at  Garfield, 
was  the  spirit  in  which  at  eighteen  he  struck  his 
father  from  behind." 

So  he  followed  Guiteau's  life  down  to  the  assas- 
sination, and  while  showing  the  ku'id  light  of  the 
hell  that  was  in  his  heart  he  sneeringly  asks  about 
his  devotions,  "  Do  yon  think  his  knees  would  show 
the  unhealed  scars  of  his  prayers  ?  "  Thus  he  went 
on,  chaining  attention  with  the  brilliant  links  of  his 
impassioned  oratory.  I  cannot  begin  to  reproduce 
a  tithe  of  them.  He  did  not  praise  the  mob,  but 
he  said,  ''  There  are  occasions  when  human  nature 
overrides  the  restraints  of  law,  forgets  and  ignores 
them."  He  plead  for  the  honor  of  that  jury  that  no 
one  man  might  be  found  to  defeat  the  purposes  of 
that  trial,  and  repelled  the  idea  that  there  was  "one 
man  out  of  twelve,  the  apostolic  number,  to  be  un- 
true to  his  trust."  He  returned  to  the  prisoner,  re- 
plied to  his  interruptions,  read  from  his  impious 
arguments,  and,  allmling  to  his  claim  to  the  Abra- 
haraic  inspiration,  he  closed  the  first  day  of  his  ap- 
peal by  quoting  from  the  words  of  the  Master  his 


244  TWO   HARD   CASES. 

views  of  the  Abrahamic  school  :  "  Jesus  saith  unto 
them,  if  ye  were  Abraham's  children,  ye  would  do 
the  works  of  Abraham.  ...  Ye  are  of  your  father, 
the  devil,  and  the  lusts  of  your  father  ye  will  do. 
He  was  a  murderer  from  the  bes^inninof,  and  abode, 
not  in  truth,  because  there  is  no  truth  in  him." 
And  he  had  painted  this  devil  so  black  that  his 
audience  saw  the  family  resemblance  in  the  pict- 
ure. 

The  second  day  he  alluded  to  the  alleged  sup- 
pressed evidence,  which,  "  forsooth,  the  two  Gui- 
teaus  demanded,  as  a  matter  of  right,  in  their 
behalf."  Here,  undertaking  to  state  from  his  own 
knowledge  that  the  inspiration  was  not  to  be  found 
in  the  stenographer's  report  of  the  interview  with 
Guiteau,  he  was  properly  stopped  by  the  court,  on 
the  objection  of  the  counsel  for  the  defense. 

Soon,  turning  from  this,  he  went  on  in  a  strain 
of  sustained  irony  to  ask.  Who  killed  President 
Garfield  ?  The  prisoner  unwittingly  assisted  him 
to  his  first  answer  by  interjecting,  •'  The  doctors," 
which  was  exactly  what  he  wanted.  All  through 
his  argument  he  was  disposed  to  reply  to  the  in- 
terruptions of  the  prisoner  ;  this  was  in  doubtful 
taste,  but  as  it  was  the  giant  crushing  the  pigmy,  it 
was  often  very  effective.  But  who  killed  Garfield  ? 
He  went  through  the  list,  —  the  doctors.  Secretary 
Blaine,  John   H.  Noyes,  the  public   press,  etc.,  — 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  245 

turning  aside  in  an  episode  to  make  an  eloquent 
appeal  to  the  passions  of  the  jury,,  in  such  vigorous 
language  as  this:  "The  right  of  trial  by  jury 
existed  long  before  the  charters  granted  by  English 
kings.  It  originated  when  men  felt  as  you  and  I 
feel  to-da}',  that  a  jury  should  be  called,  and  a  jury 
of  the  viciimge,  and  that  they  should  bring  with 
them  their  knowledge  of  men,  and  their  abhorrence 
of  crime,  and  that  they  should  not  leave  their  moral 
nature  and  their  consciences  outside  when  they 
enter  the  jury-box." 

He  eulogizes  Conkling  and  Grant  and  Arthur, 
arraigned  by  the  counsel  for  the  defense,  as  re- 
sponsible for  the  murder  of  the  President,  returns 
to  the  personal  appeal  to  the  jury,  combats  Mr. 
Reed's  idea  of  their  independent  position  as  kings 
and  emperors.  "Jurors  have,  and  should  have, 
human  sympathies.  They  have  the  sense  of  con- 
science, of  duty,  and  of  just  indignation  at  wrong.'* 
"  I  venture  to  affirm  that  the  prisoner  is  mistaken, 
and  that  there  is  not  an  unworthy  juror  in  that 
box  ;  that  there  is  no  man-made  king,  no  man-made 
emperor  ;  that  you  are  God-made  men." 

The  close  of  the  second  day  found  him  reviewing 
the  testimony  for  the  defense,  with  which  he  also 
opened  the  third  and  last  day.  His  dissections 
were  able  and  unsparing.  A  single  sentence, 
sweeping   down   three  witnesses  with  that  jury  at 


246  TWO   HARD   CASES. 

one  blow,  will  sufficiently  illustrate.  Speaking  of 
Damon,  who  testified  that  Guiteau  was  insane  when 
he  spoke  in  1871),  in  Paine  Memorial  Hall,  in 
Boston,  he  says,  "•  Then  we  have  the  ex-Unitarian 
minister,  who  had  retired,  perhaps  for  conscience' 
sake,  into  a  gathering  of  those  who,  like  Dr. 
Spitzka,  did  not  care  to  acknowledge  the  Ci'eator 
that  mojde  them,  or  who,  like  Dr.  Kiernan,  did  not 
believe  in  a  future  state  of  existence." 

As  the  morning  went  on,  he  either  found  by  the 
faces  of  the  jury  tliat  they  were  a  unit,  or,  fearing 
to  let  them  down  by  too  long  a  discussion  of  the 
testimony,  he  turned  to  ridicule  the  discover}^  made 
by  Reed  of  the  insanity  of  Charlotte  Corday,  pro- 
nouncing an  impassioned  eulogy  on  that  rose  of 
blood,  the  solitary  flower  which  blossomed  and  faded 
in  that  night  of  terror.  As  he  grandly  says,  "She 
was  one  of  the  noblesse  created  by  the  God,  whose 
name  this  prisoner  blasphemes."  And  Wilkes 
Booth,  even,  was  brave  and  half  a  patriot  beside 
tliis  craven,  "  cold-blooded  murderer."  "  He  died 
like  a  noble  stag  at  ba3^"  "There  were,  in  his 
case,  circumstances  which  tend  to  mitigate  in  some 
degree  the  horror  we  feel  for  the  act  of  the  as- 
sassin." 

Tiien,  with  the  statement  that  money  has  been 
this  man's  God  from  the  beginning,  "  money  and 
an  inordinate  craving  for  notoriety,"  and  claiming 


TWO  HARD  CASES.  247 

the  latter  as  his  motive  for  the  crime,  he  closes  the 
morning  hour.  After  the  recess,  at  which  time  he 
evidently  decided  to  bring  his  appeal  to  a  close,  in 
season  for  the  judge's  charge  before  a  night's  sleep 
could  dissipate  the  effects  of  his  powerful  presenta- 
tion of  the  criminal  and  his  crime,  he  confines  him- 
self to  the  prisoner's  wretched  pretense  of  transi- 
tory mania,  his  claim  to  inspiration,  and  his  care- 
fully written  defense  that  omitted  it  all  the  while. 
To  heighten  the  effect  to  the  jur^'^,  the  prisoner 
was  shouting  his  interruptions,  only  to  have  them 
turned  back  by  Judge  Porter,  ever  ready,  ever 
alert,  in  glowing  eloquence,  standing  there  in  the 
pride  of  his  triumph  hour  ;  and,  leaving  the  "  name 
of  James  A.  Garfield  in  characters  of  light  upon 
the  firmament,  there  to  remain  as  radiant  and  en- 
during as  if  every  letter  were  traced  in  living 
stars,"  he  stepped  from  that  arena  to  the  pedestal 
of  his  future  fame.  The  jury  decided  to  remain, 
and  the  judge  commenced  his  charge. 

Judge  Cox  was  to  be  relied  on  to  state  to  the 
jury  precisely  what  he  believed  to  be  the  law.  For 
three  months  his  position  had  hardly  been  an  envi- 
able one.  This  man,  small  in  stature,  of  quiet,  re- 
tiring habits  and  scholarly  tastes,  but  inflexible  of 
purpose,  firm  in  the  consciousness  that  he  was  right, 
had  stood,  like  a  rock,  unmoved  by  the  popular 
clamor,  by  the  bowlings  that  from  press  and  pulpit 


■248  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

pandered  to  the  passions  of  the  hour,  hardly  dis- 
turbed by  the  noisy  interruptions  of  the  prisoner 
even,  determined  that  this  pariah  of  criminals  should 
have,  so  far  as  it  was  in  his  power  to  secure  it  for 
him,  the  impartial  trial  which  that  section  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  with  which  his 
honor  opened  his  charge  guarantees  to  every  per- 
son accused  of  crime. 

Those  who  know  Judge  Cox  did  not  need  to  be 
informed  that  he  would  not  require  to  have  the 
eminent  judge  of  a  New  York  court,  or  of  any 
other  bench,  instruct  him  as  to  the  law  of  insanity, 
or  to  indicate  in  advance  what  his  charge  to  the 
jury  in  this  case  should  be.  They  knew  that  he 
would  charge  the  law  pertinent  to  the  facts  brought 
out  in  evidence,  and  that  he  would  keep  strictly 
within  the  established  canons  of  former  decisions. 
But  justice  to  all  demanded  that  he  should  not 
lay  down  any  law  beyond  the  facts  brought  out 
in  the  trial,  and  those  who  complain  that  he 
charged  strongly  against  the  prisoner  should  blame 
the  evidence,  and  not  the  judge.  That  his  honor 
had  decided  in  his  own  mind  on  the  sanity  of  the 
prisoner  can  scarcely  be  doubted  ;  this  was  hardly 
to  be  avoided,  however  desirable,  in  the  direction 
of  keeping  the  mind  unbiased,  it  might  be,  that 
this  question  should  still  remain  in  abeyance ;  nor 
does  it  anywhere  appear  that  the  law  requires  that 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  249- 

the  judge  sliould  not  have  formed  an  opinion,  only 
that  he  shall  charge  the  jury  according  to  the  law 
as  related  to  the  evidence  before  them.  Those  fif- 
teen medical  witnesses  for  the  government  who,  al- 
most unchallenged  by  the  medical  testimony  for  the 
defense,  maintained  the  perfect  sanity  of  Guiteau 
could  hardly  be  supposed  to  carry  much  weight  as 
experts  if  they  did  not  convince  the  court,  whose 
advisers  the  law  presupposes  them  to  be,  of  the 
truth  of  the  facts  to  whicii  they  testified. 

In  relation  to  the  safeguards  of  the  law  he  said 
well  of  the  prisoner:  "If  he  be  guilty,  no  man  de- 
serves their  2:)rotection  less  than  he  does.  If  he  be 
innocent,  no  man  needs  their  protection  more,  and 
no  man's  case  more  clearly  proves  their  beneficence 
and  justice."  His  honor  then  went  on  to  instruct 
on  various  legal  points,  not  necessarily  involving 
the  point  of  insanity.  Passing  these,  we  come  to 
the  legal  "  partial  insanity,"  in  regard  to  which  he 
gives  this  instruction  :  "  Whenever  this  partial  in- 
sanity is  relied  on  as  a  defense,  it  must  appear  that 
the  crime  charged  was  the  product  of  the  delusion 
or  other  morbid  condition,  and  connected  with  it  as 
effect  with  cause,  and  not  the  result  of  some  reason- 
ing or  natural  motives,  which  the  party  may  be 
capable  of,  notwithstanding  his  circumscribed  dis- 
order." 

This  would  be  dangerous  ground  in  psychology, 


250  TWO  HARD    CASES. 

but  I  believe  it  has  always  been  insisted  on  in 
law.  The  physician,  finding  the  reason  wrong  in 
one  direction,  deems  it  unreliable,  at  least,  in  all ; 
his  belief  in  the  unity  of  mind  would  seem  to  ren- 
der such  conclusion  necessary.  I  am  not  sure,  how- 
ever, but  the  "  or  other  morbid  condition  "  in  his 
lienor's  dictum  w^ould  prove  a  saving  clause,  allow- 
ing the  connection  of  any  crime  charged,  with  the 
insanity,  independent  of  the  delusion.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  among  the  insane  it  is  often  impossible  to 
establish  any  sort  of  relation  between  the  delusion 
and  the  insane  act;  as,  for  example,  in  my  own 
vrards,  when  the  recently  self-appointed  minister 
to  St.  James'  was  found  to  have  destroyed  his 
clothing. 

His  honor's  remarks  on  the  propriety  of  ex- 
tended testimony  on  the  question  of  the  man's  san- 
ity especially  commend  themselves  to  the  judgment 
of  the  medical  expert.  The  test  of  criminal  re- 
sponsibility, where  the  defense  of  insanity  is  in- 
terposed, he  gives  as  follows  :  "  Whether  the  ac- 
cused had  sufficient  use  of  his  reason  to  understand 
the  nature  of  the  act  with  which  he  is  charged, 
and  to  understand  that  it  was  wrong  for  him  to 
commit ;  that  if  this  was  the  fact  he  is  criminally 
responsible  for  it,  whatever  peculiarities  may  be 
shown  about  him  in  other  respects  ;  whereas,  if  his 
reason  was  so  defective,  in  consequence  of  mental 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  251 

disorder,  generally  supposed  to  be  caused  by  brain 
disease,  that  he  could  not  understand  what  he  was 
doing,  or  that  what  he  was  doing  was  wrong,  he 
ought  to  be  treated  as  an  irresponsible  person." 

This  is  the  "  iron  rule  of  the  court,"  as  Mr. 
Davidge  styled  it.  I  know  it  is  accepted  law,  but 
there  is  irresponsible  medical  insanity  lying  outside 
that  limit. 

The  terrible  cases  of  irresistible  impulse  to  in- 
fanticide against  the  strurrorlino-  reason  of  the 
mother,  in  puerperal  insanity,  that  are  now  and 
then  seen  by  physicians,  are  so  obviously  insane 
acts  that  they  never  reach  the  courts,  and  so  the 
judges  are  not  compelled  by  their  humanity  to  re- 
vise this  dictum.  The  insane  man  often  does  what 
he  knows  is  wrong,  in  spite  of  himself,  and  he  does 
it  by  reason  of  insanity.  An  eminent  judge  once 
told  me  that  when  suffering  from  a  temporary  at- 
tack of  "  melancholia  that  he  took  a  step,  not 
criminal,  which  he  knew  at  the  time  be  should 
ever  after  regret,  for  it  was  irrevocable  ;  this  he 
knew,  but  could  not  help  doing  the  act.  The  next 
day  he  would  have  given  almost  anything  to  re- 
call it  if  he  could.  To  that  judge,  on  the  question 
of  irresistible  impulse,  this  one  item  of  personal 
experience  was  worth  a  hundred  learned  prece- 
dents. 

But  it  is  not  for  me  to  pronounce  what  should 


252  TIVO  HARD   CASES. 

be  the  insanity  of  law.  It  were  fitter  that  I  should 
criticise  the  medical  experts,  whose  opinions  have 
rendered  such  judicial  utterances  possible.  It  is 
enough  for  me  to  say  of  the  charge  that  it  was  a 
painstaking,  conscientious  statement  of  the  estab- 
lished dicta  of  law,  as  applicable  to  the  facts  in  evi- 
dence in  this  case,  facts  which  had  been  carefully 
studied  by  the  learned  judge,  in  the  light  which 
the  distinguished  experts  for  the  government  were 
able  to  throw  upon  them ;  and  though  I  am  unable 
to  see  that  the  charge  is  any  advance  on  former 
]-ulings  as  viewed  from  the  physician's  stand-point, 
it  is  an  able  digest  of  those  rulings,  and  will,  I 
think,  be  accepted  by  jurists  as  among  the  sound- 
est expositions  of  the  relation  of  insanity  to  crim- 
inal law.  The  final  summary,  with  its  direct  pres- 
entation of  this  case,  which  is  brief  but  admirable, 
is  enough  for  our  purpose  here  :  — 

"  If  you  find  from  the  whole  evidence  that,  at 
the  time  of  the  commission  of  the  homicide,  the 
prisoner,  in  consequence  of  disease  of  mind,  was 
laboring  under  such  a  defect  of  his  reason  that  he 
was  incapable  of  understanding  what  he  was  doing, 
or  that  it  was  wrong,  as,  for  example,  if  he  was  un- 
der an  insane  delusion  that  the  Almighty  had  com- 
manded him  to  do  the  act,  and  in  consequence  of 
that  he  was  incapable  of  seeing  tliat  it  was  a  wrong 
thing  to  do,  then  he  was  not  in  a  responsible  con- 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  253 

dition  of  mind,  and  was  an  object  of  comi)assion, 
and  not  of  justice,  and  ought  to  be  now  acquitted, 

''  On  the  other  hnnd,  if  j^ou  find  that  he  was  un- 
der no  insane  delusions,  such  as  I  have  described, 
but  had  possession  of  his  faculties  and  the  power 
to  know  that  his  act  was  wrong,  and  of  his  own 
free  will  deliberately  conceived,  planned,  and  exe- 
cuted this  homicide,  then,  whether  his  motive  was 
personal  vindictiveness,  or  political  animosity,  or  a 
desire  to  avenge  a  supposed  political  wrong,  or  a 
morbid  desire  for  notoriety,  or  fanciful  ideas  of 
patriotism  or  the  Divine  will,  or  you  are  unable  to 
discover  any  motive  at  all,  the  act  is  simply  mur- 
der, and  it  is  your  duty  to  find  him  guilty." 

So  at  half  past  four  o'clock  that  Wednesday 
afternoon,  of  the  25th  of  January,  the  judge  gave 
the  case  to  the  jury,  who  at  once  retired. 

In  that  brief  winter  day  the  darkness  was  al- 
ready gathering  in  the  court-room  ;  everybody 
waited,  feeling  that  the  end  had  come.  After  a 
little  the  prisoner  requested  permission  to  retire  to 
the  marshal's  room,  and  a  recess  of  half  an  hour 
was  taken.  With  the  close  of  the  recess  it  was 
whispered  through  the  room  that  a  verdict  had 
been  reached.  Candles  had  been  brought  in,  cast- 
ing everything  into  flickering  light  and  shadow ; 
the  dim  forms  of  the  jury  were  seen  coming  in, 
and  a  hush  as  of  death  went  over  that  crowded 
room. 


254  TWO   HARD    CASES. 

The  foi'eman  stood,  and  to  tlie  question  of  the 
clerk,  "  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  have  you  agreed 
upon  a  verdict  ?  "  he  answered,  — 

"  We  have." 

"What  say  you?  Is  the  defendant  guilty  or 
not  guilty  ?  " 

And  on  that  yet  deeper  hush  the  answer  came  :  — 

"Guilty  as  indicted,  sir." 

And  the  agony  of  suspense  was  over,  and  from 
the  audience  came  a  burst  of  apphiuse.  The  bail- 
iffs shouted  "  Silence  !  "  Mr.  Scoville  was  on  his 
feet  calling  on  the  court,  and  Mr.  Davidge  insist- 
ing that  tlie  verdict  be  first  recorded.  This  done, 
Mr.  Scoville  demanded  that  the  jury  be  polled. 
As  one  by  one  their  names  were  called,  and  out  of 
the  darkness,  "  Guilty,''  "  Guilty,"  came  from  each 
one,  one  man  of  all  that  assembly,  apparently  un- 
moved, sitting  erect,  sent  back  to  the  last  response, 
in  the  old  familiar  voice,  the  reply,  "  My  blood  be 
on  the  head  of  that  jury  ;  don't  you  forget  it.  That 
is  my  answer."  A  question  or  two  from  the  coun- 
sel, replied  to  by  the  court,  a  word  of  thanks  from 
the  judge  to  the  jury.  "  Bis  show"  yet,  but  pass- 
ing, the  audience  rising,  it  was  time  to  ring  the 
curtain  down,  and  out  of  the  darkness  of  tlie  room 
and  of  that  convict's  soul  came  the  cry,  "  God  will 
aveniije  this  outrage ! "  This  was  his  last  "  tjood- 
night." 


TWO  HARD   CASES.  255 

Of  course  there  were  the  exceptions  taken,  and 
argued  and  overruled,  —  the  verdict  was  the  end. 

On  the  4th  of  February  the  district  attorney 
moved  that  the  sentence  be  pronounced.  In  an- 
swer to  the  question  if  he  had  anything  to  say  why 
sentence  should  not  be  pronounced  upon  him,  he 
made  the  following  response,  most  of  which  had 
already  done  duty  in  the  "  Christmas  Greeting," 
in  his  argument  to  the  jury,  and  I  know  not  on 
what  other  occasions  :  "  I  am  not  guilty,  sir,  of  the 
charge  set  forth  in  the  indictment.  It  was  God's 
act,  and  not  mine,  and  God  will  take  care  of  it, 
and  don't  the  American  people  forget  it ;  and 
every  officer,  judicial  or  otherwise,  from  the  Pres- 
ident down  to  that  marshal,  taking  in  every  man 
on  that  jury  and  every  member  of  this  bench,  will 
pay  for  it ;  and  the  American  nation  will  roll  in 
blood,  if  my  body  goes  into  that  ground  and  I  am 
hung.  I  tell  you,  the  mills  of  the  gods  grind  slow, 
but  they  grind  sure.  Those  Jews  put  the  despised 
Galilean  into  the  grave,  and  they  had  their  way  for 
a  little  time ;  but  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
forty  years  after,  the  Almighty  got  even  with  them. 
I  tell  you  I  am  here  as  God's  man.  I  have  no 
fear  of  death  ;  kill  me  to-morrow,  if  you  want  to. 
I  am  here  as  God's  man,  and  have  been  from  the 
start.  I  care  not  what  men  shall  do  with  me." 
And  then  solemnly,  with  fitting  exordium,  the  judge 


256  TWO  HARD   CASES. 

pronounced  the  sentence,  closing  with  the  usual 
impressive  words,  ''And  may  God  have  mercy  upon 
your  soul."  On  tlie  hush  of  that  court-room  came 
back,  like  a  weird  but  solemn  echo,  "  And  may 
God  have  mercy  upon  your  soul." 

Some  days  later  I  saw  him  for  a  few  moments 
in  jail,  having  been  called  there  to  visit  another 
2Drisoner.  He  was  already  showing  a  relief  from 
the  tension  of  the  trial,  was  markedly  gaining  in 
flesh,  was  happy  in  the  sale  of  photographs  and 
autographs,  was  making  money  at  last,  was  calm 
and  apparentlv  content.  I  am  satisfied  he  still 
looks  for  an  earthly  redemption.  To  such  a  mind 
there  is  always  something  aliead  ;  hope  never  dies. 
They  will  talk  of  his  "  weakening,"  and  he  is  by 
nature  cowardly  and  shrinks  from  pain,  but  this 
time  they  will  find  he  has  enlisted  for  the  war. 

Mr.  Reed,  with  eloquent  appeal,  has  carried  his 
case  to  the  court  in  banc  ;  the  exceptions  were 
overruled,  and  there  is  nothing  left  between  him 
and  the  end,  —  nothing  but  ''an  act  of  God." 

And  so  on  the  oOth  of  June,  1882,  from  the  land 
which  he  has  widowed  and  that  has  grown  impa- 
tient of  his  lingering  presence ;  from  the  court  he 
has  insulted  and  defied,  —  that  human  justice  on 
which  we  pronounce  the  highest  encomium  when 
we  call  it  blind,  —  to  the  Divine  compassion,  who 
is  "  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities" 
unabashed,  he  will  venture  the  last  appeal. 


TWO  HARD    CASES.  257 

And  now,  with  the  last  proof-sheet  of  these  out- 
lines, strangely  delayed,  lying  before  me,  comes  the 
tidings  of  the  end.  This  was  in  keeping  with  all 
the  rest.  With  a  firm  step  and  an  upturned  eye 
he  went  away ;  and  while  the  notes  of  a  weird 
chant  lingered  in  the  air,  with  a  paraphrase  of  the 
prayer  of  prayers  on  his  lips,  and  the  exultant  yell 
of  the  mob  rising  without,  he  took  the  appeal  "  be- 
yond these  voices."  Perhaps  not  in  vain,  for  that 
mind  which  saw  through  a  veil  comprehended  not ; 
even  as  that  brain  acted  through  thickened,  clouded 
membranes. 

17 


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